"And the breastplate of righteousness in place..."

Any guesses on what our item of spiritual armor is this week in Bible School? :)

This week, our kids had a bit of trouble understanding what righteousness actually is (it didn't help that they were CRAZYTOWN and all over the place) so toward the end of the week, we focused more on the fact that God gives us a metaphorical breastplate in order to protect us. We talked about how God protects us spiritually earlier in the week and how He helps us to do the right thing and be an example to other people earlier in the week. Today, we talked about how God protects our hearts from the things that scare us or things that we are having a hard time with. 

Kids carry around more burdens than what we give them credit for, I think. They seem so carefree and innocent, but they have things that weigh on their minds too. It's harder for them, though, because they don't always understand that these bad things are no one's fault (most of the time). They take so much responsibility onto themselves and along with it, blame.

This is a conversation I had with a 4th grader in my class last year. His parents were splitting up and his dad wasn't even trying to get custody of him and his brother.

Me: "Cameron, what's wrong?"

Cameron: "My mom just told me that she and my dad aren't going to married anymore and that he's moving far away."

Me: "Aw Cameron, that's really sad. Did your mom tell you where your dad is moving to? You'll still get to see him, right?"

Cameron: "No. He's moving away because he doesn't love me or Jackson anymore."

Me: "I'm sure that's not true. Is that what he said to you?"

Cameron: "No, but why else would he want to move away?"

While we were planning today's lesson, I was struck by a God-bolt of inspiration. We cut out two vaguely breastplate-shaped pieces of poster board, split our class into girls and boys, and then we handed out post-it notes and markers to each person. We asked them to write down something that scares them, or that they are  having a hard time with, or something they're anxious about, or something that their family is worried about right now. 

"I'm afraid my grandma might die soon."

"My dad lost his job this year."

"My uncle lives in Texas."

"I have to move to a new school."

"My grandpa had back surgery."

"My teacher won't be at my school next year."

"My family went to the house across the street without me." (We couldn't figure out exactly what this one meant. It could be that they went to visit the people across the street, but it's also possible that the family split up or had to get foster care involved).

Then, we had each kid put their post-it on the breastplate. I told my girls that even though all of these things seem really big and really scary right now while they're happening, God has always and will always bring them  through safely to the other side of the situation. I wrote "God protects me and loves me" in big letters over all the post-its on the breastplate to show that no matter what happens, God's breastplate of righteousness will always protect our hearts and that He is always looking out for us. 

At the beginning of the summer, I was seriously considering switching to the 4s-5s-Kindergartners class, just for a change of pace. I've done 3rd-4th for the last two summers and I thought it would be interesting to work with the little kids that we get.

I'm really glad I didn't switch. :)