Life is like a foosball game.
Let me back up a moment. This passed week has been long and tiring. Working all day and then helping with VBS (which is like a sort of "camp" for children at church) in the evenings. I have to admit, at first when I was asked to lead a small group, I didn't want to. I suppose I agreed more for my mom than for anyone. However, as the days drew closer to Monday morning, I couldn't help but find myself excited about getting to share Jesus with 5th graders (for that was the grade I'd been assigned). What's more, I got to be a small group leader, which means I got a small group of 5th graders and get 4 days to build relationships, play, and share Jesus' love. I figured it would be awesome!
It wasn't. Or at least it didn't start out that way. Somehow, I ended up with all boys. Given, there were only 4 of them, but there's just something about certain mixes of kids. They weren't horrible. It was just that the activities were really to young for them...in a world where they have fancy things like iPods and iPhones, xbox and playstation, this just was not working. I tried everything. From funny questions to rowdy games. The funny questions were seen as "lame" and the rowdy games only made them that much more rowdy. And then...
His name is Aaron. And the entire time every day all he could talk about was the foosball table that is out in the large group room. I don't think he'd ever seen the game before. He was hooked from day 1. I knew that, somehow, I had to work this game into our lessons. Had to. But what does a foosball game have to do with the calling and discipleship of Peter? Nothing...and everything apparently.
The last day, I got permission to have the lesson at the foosball table. I told the boys that life was like a game of foosball, and stuck a label that said "LIFE" on the edge of the table. We, like the players in the little game, had no choice whether we participated in this game or not. In foosball there are two teams. I let them pick our team color and then had them put labels on the backs of the little men in the game. The labels had our names on them. I told them that the opposing forces also had names. I handed them labels-"Fear", "Anger", and "Hate"-to label our opposers with. Next, I told them that these little men could not move or act without influence. Humans are the same, we don't move or act without influence. We sometimes just don't want to acknowledge what our influence is. I told the boys to take up their positions at the game. For the side that was to influence the players of our team, I stuck labels on the boy's shirts that said "HOLY SPIRIT". For the opposing team, I stuck labels on the boy's shirts that said "The enemy" and "the darkness". We are all influenced by either good or bad, the light or the dark, God or the enemy. I then withdrew the foosball from my pocket. On it, I had written the fruits of the Spirit. I told the boys that we, as believers, are to sow the fruits of the Spirit wherever we go. We only know how to do that by reading the Word.
"What about that one?", one boy asked pointing to a broken player. I smiled. Jesus was kind enough to give me vision even for the broken one. I had actually been praying that somehow, the broken guy didn't get fixed. You see, the screw that held him to the rod came out, so he was just spinning around the rod...really no help to the game at all. I told the boys that choosing not to choose a side is still choosing a side. Choosing not to act is still acting, and still affected the game at some points-like when the little man would randomly swing down and knock the ball in a direction it wasn't intended to go.
"So, what's the goal? What does the goal represent?", the same boy asked. The goal is what Jesus told us. He told us to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. He told us to love our neighbor as ourself. He told us to love our enemies, to pray for them. He told us to make disciples. That is the goal.
"And now we play?", they asked eagerly. Haha. Yes. Of course. But with a twist. Every time the good guys make a goal you have to shout, "WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT!" And every time the opposing force makes a goal you shout, "BACK OFF SATAN"...because sometimes the enemy scores one. Sometimes we are like Peter, and we deny and run. But that isn't the end. Because He gives us the opportunity to tell Him that we love Him. He gives us opportunities, still, to partner with Him and feed His sheep. And we can still have victory. We HAVE victory.
After a few games, I stopped the boys and gave them each a foosball of their own. Each ball had their name on it, the meaning of their name, and a specific verse for each of them.
We then had to move on to our next activity. I left our lesson knowing the boys had fun and trusting that the Lord had implanted what he needed to in each of them. During the craft, the kids were making place mats for inmates. The boys came up to me telling me all sorts of different things about what they had done and drawn. One boy said that Aaron had used our foosball lesson on a mat. And Aaron smiled and said, "Life is like a foosball game."
They got it. I know they did. I may not ever get to see what the seeds that Jesus planted during that time will grow into, much less what fruit they will bear. But I went to bed last night with the voices of 5th grade boys ringing in my ears, "WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT!"
Yes, life is like a foosball game. And we are the Children of Light.
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