Summer Fun: Jello Fight

We're on vacation this week, so I'm re-running some of my favorite posts from the last year. Enjoy some of my favorite ideas, and I'll be back with you on Monday.

We are currently on vacation with my extended family. For the first time, all the kids are sleeping together in one room. We have six kids ranging in age from nine to two. Of course, lots of talking and giggling ensue after everyone gets in bed. The other night, we went in and told them to be quiet. We had to go back several times to persuade the kids to be quiet. The next morning, my youngest daughter explained to me that it wasn't her fault that the kids were talking and got in trouble because the other kids in the room made her talk. We had a long discussion about being responsible for your own actions, but that reminded me so much of the way all of us look at sin. We all want to blame someone else for making us sin.

The truth is everyone sins, and that's an important concept for our kids to understand. If we didn't need someone to wipe away our sins, then Jesus didn't need to die on the cross, and we wouldn't need God. If we could just pass the blame and the consequences off on someone or something else, there would be no need for grace. These are big concepts that might be tough for your kids to wrap their brains around. One great way to point out how sin can dirty up our lives and only God can wipe it away is to have a Jello fight.

I'm sure some of you are thinking "Is she crazy?" Well, probably, but I guarantee they won't forget the fight or the lesson behind it, so let go of your reservations, find some old clothes and let the kids have a great time and learn something in the process.

Dress your kids in old clothes and make up a big batch of Jello. Give each child a different color of Jello to throw. Take them out in the yard and let them throw Jello at each other until they run out. They will be covered in it when they are done. The thing about Jello is that it's sticky and hard to get off of you and your clothes.

Explain to your kids that sin is kind of like Jello. It sticks to us and covers us up. It separates us from God, just like the Jello separates them from other people, because who is going to let a Jello-covered kid into their house? No one would probably take a hug from a kid who's just been in a Jello fight. God can't get close to us when we're covered in sin.

Now, turn on the hose and hose your kids down until all the Jello is off their skin and hair. Explain to them that Jesus's death and resurrection allow God to wipe away our sin, just like the water from the hose wipes away the Jello. God offers to wipe away our sin for free, just like you didn't charge your kids for the water to clean up. All we have to do is recognize that we are sinners and ask for forgiveness, and God separates our sin from us.

Here are some great verses to use while talking to your kids:

• Psalm 51:7 -- Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
• John 3:16 -- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
• Romans 6:23 -- For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
• Romans 3:23 -- For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

 When you've finished your Jello fight, take your clean kids inside for a Jello snack. I promise, they'll love it.

Memory Monday: Snow Day (Psalm 51:7)

As I look out my window today, I see a blanket of pristine white. We're having our first snow day of the season. Since I don't have to go anywhere today, I'm enjoying the beauty of the winter wonderland.

I have to admit when I considered the possibility of a snow day today, I wasn't all that excited. I work from home, so any day the kids are home makes it difficult for me to work. The snow has also interrupted a couple of meetings I had planned for today. But, as I gaze out at the beauty created by the blanket of snow, I find myself looking forward to a day of children who look mummified in their snow gear, snowball fights and snowman building (I could really live without the snow shoveling, but I'll do some of that, too).

The picture out my window reminds me of Psalm 51:7, which says "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." When God forgives my sin, he makes my life as clean as the snow. When God looks at me, through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, He sees a soul as pure as the snow on the ground outside my front door.

When you have a snow day, take advantage of the moment to memorize Psalm 51:7 with your kids and to talk about what it means to be washed "whiter than snow."

• Before anyone tromps through your yard, have your kids look out the window. Talk about how a sinless life looks like an untouched field of snow. After your kids have played in the yard, take another look at the snow. It will be churned up and dirty in places. Talk about how when we sin, our life looks like the churned up snow. Ask your kids what happens when new snow falls. The yard will look beautiful again. Jesus' death on the cross allows God to see our lives as if they were that untouched, sinless field of snow. He forgives our sins and wipes away the dirt and holes left in our lives by that sin.
• If you live somewhere where it doesn't snow, buy some of the fake snow, and demonstrate the same lesson with your kids.

As you enjoy your next snow day, remember to look at the time with your kids as a gift. Take advantage of the opportunity to spend some unexpected time together, and use the opportunity to provide an object lesson about how God makes us "whiter than snow."