Today is the 24th installment of 30 days of resources for your family to use to grow together. Each of our daily activities will have the following pieces:
- PLAY TOGETHER: An opportunity to have fun and do something together instead of watching Netflix.
- TALK TOGETHER: Around the dinner table or just two of you sitting on the back porch, take turns asking these questions to learn more about the other.
- ORIENT TOGETHER: In time of need we have an opportunity to renew our vision for Jesus, and pray for His work in our life and world.
We hope these resources are helpful to you as a family. Feel free to share with others as well!
Paper Airplane Tournament: Make sure everyone starts from the same point, and let them fly! For bonus points, I always find that the most decorated planes fly the best, so I would say style definitely counts for this one. You can go for distance, stunts, or anything else. Try and get your planes to fly through an obstacle course or see how many rooms you can get it through. Come up with challenges for each other. There’s no wrong way in this one.
- What’s the biggest change that you’ve seen in the way people do things during this time?
- What about the strangest change that you’ve seen?
- Are there any things that you’ve changed in how you would normally do things that you’d like to keep around after things get back to normal?
A Strange Way To Do Battle
Many people that I talk to these days seem to share a similar view of this quarantine. We all know that staying home is the right thing to do to help fight this virus, but it feels like we’re doing a whole lot of nothing. We feel like we need to be doing more. We feel like we’re just being lazy. But sometimes, the normal ways of fighting just don’t cut it.
Read Joshua 6:1-11
Israel has been promised again and again that the promised land would be theirs, but there was one problem. It was currently occupied by a bunch of other people. And they were strong. They were warriors. But Israel had something that they didn’t. A claim on this land given to them by God, and a promise that He would deliver it to them. If this was a traditional war, Israel wouldn’t stand a chance, but God was on their side, and nobody can stand against Him.
Israel would come to be known as a powerful force that won’t be stopped, but this is their first battle. They have no reputation yet. So when they arrive outside of Jericho and are greeted with impenetrable walls, they don’t really know what to do. So Joshua listens to God. God comes to him and gives him this crazy plan to walk around the walls with some trumpets. Practical knowledge would say to dig under or go over. Maybe try to knock them down. But Joshua did the right thing in valuing the command of God over that practical knowledge. And It pays off Israel! Check out Joshua 6:20. As soon as the people shouted, the walls came down. God was faithful in His unorthodox battle plan.
I think in the same way, we feel like staying home is a strange way to fight a virus. It feels like there has to be something else that we can do. And there is. While there are strange orders being given to fight the virus the way we know how. God has also given us orders on how to fight this fight. Scripture tells us again and again to bring all things to God in prayer. There is no limit to what we should be praying for. There is nothing too big or too small to bring to Him. And while most people would look at that and say that it’s not going to do anything, I bet Jericho was saying the same thing as this army was just wandering around their walls. And I bet they felt pretty silly when those walls came down. I’m not going to claim to know much about viruses, and God has blessed people much smarter than me that are giving us plans to keep us safe. Staying inside and following along with those guidelines is absolutely necessary. But He has also given us commands of how to fight this fight as His people. Things that we need to be doing on top of that. Let us continue to lift this whole situation up in prayer as we fight the way our great God has commanded us to.
Pray:
Great God, in this difficult time, we come to you as your people, your army, ready to fight the way we know how. We lift up this entire situation to you God. We pray for those who are researching cures and ways to heal the sick. We pray for those who are serving others by caring for the afflicted or providing for those that are in need. We pray for all of us in quarantine and isolation that you would fill us with peace and joy. And we pray that this would all pass quickly. Lord, we ask all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Today’s Family Resource for Growing Together is written by Justin Hall, a youth pastor in Lexington, SC.
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