B.I.G. Theme: Jesus’ Friends Go and Tell

B.I.G. Idea: We believe that we can tell others about Jesus.

B.I.G. Bible Verse: Have faith in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. (Acts 16:31, CEV)

August 1

Acts 8:26-39

Philip and the Ethiopian

I am a person of sayings. I have a seemingly endless stream of simple sayings stored away. A friend of mine calls them Tilmanisms (long story). One of my favorites is “God’s gonna have you where God wants you.” And I believe that. I pursued and ended up in a career that I felt called to do. I learned a lot of strange things doing it, and found myself called upon frequently to teach classes. So I went and got myself a little education in education, and ended up teaching. Cool, I thought, great second career. And as I enjoyed my teaching, I began to teach in a variety of situations, including Sunday school. And then I found myself going to seminary, through a candidacy process and on my way to ordination. And the skills I need now are a culmination—not just of the last few years, but the last many years. And God has me where God wants me, with a unique skill set God designed.

Now, God never dropped me into an Ethiopian’s chariot, or at least nothing that looked like an Ethiopian chariot, like Phillip. But God puts us in the path of these chariot situations all the time. This week when you enter that classroom, it’s your very own chariot circumstance. Grab that moment where God put you, and be bold. The children ask questions as important as the Ethiopian, so be prepared.

Pray: Challenging God, I am open to where you will have me, but please stay with me.

Dawn Young is a deacon in the Louisiana Conference, serving as a director of Christian education for the conference, a professor of psychology, and an adventurer.

August 8

Acts 10:1-48

Peter and Cornelius

Do you pay much attention to your dreams? Do you have them? Do you dream in black and white or in color? Do you dream about a current place you are, or are your dreams always placed in a past setting? Do you ever have one of those vivid dreams that make you think “I gotta get outta this dream”? Have you ever had one of those dreams, like Peter, that makes you go, “Hmm, wonder what’s up with this dream”?

What’s up with Peter? He must be about as dense as the rock that Jesus called him. We are learning after Pentecost that Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, was an amazing healer and dynamic preacher. And about as thick as a brick. Peter spent all that time with Jesus, who ministered indiscriminately, and Peter was receiving a message from God by way of a dream that all are accepted by God. And Peter still argued.

Trouble is, we are more like Peter than we would like to admit. God’s words are clear. And still we argue. Our commandments as Christians are quite clear, yet still we struggle with what our preferences are as opposed to God’s design. But we know that Peter did get the job done, because he was open to God. You stay open too.

Pray: Gracious God, help me as I face another day with your commandments here on earth.

Dawn Young is a deacon in the Louisiana Conference, serving as a director of Christian education for the conference, a professor of psychology, and an adventurer.

August 15

Acts 18:1-4, 18-19, 24-28

Priscilla and Aquila

This is a great story about two folks whom God gave to Paul and Silas. They started out as friends. Paul, Priscilla and Aquila shared a common livelihood. They supported Paul and Silas as they worked together in ministry to bring the good news of Jesus to everyone. As they moved on together, the friends became missionary companions. Priscilla and Aquila were there to explain theological misunderstandings to Apollos and to help him gain a more clear understanding of the Gospel.

Whom has God given you? God provides us traveling companions on our journey. You need to think, maybe even list, the people God has given you. You have family and friends who support you in your ministry. You have a pastor and church staff who support you. You have a room full of children looking to you for your support of them. God gives us people to be with us throughout life, sometimes for short travels and others for longer portions of the journey.

Pray: God of the traveling, thank you for the many folks you have given me on my journey. Thanks for those that you will give me in the future.

Dawn Young is a deacon in the Louisiana Conference, serving as a director of Christian education for the conference, a professor of psychology, and an adventurer.

August 22

Acts 16:16-40

Paul and Silas in Prison

My hope is that you have never have reason to stay in a prison, and when you visit I hope the stay is brief. I used to take college students to prison twice a year, in the fall to the men’s prison and in the spring to the women’s prison. Now, they weren’t bad places. They were quite similar to college campuses, with the exception of the controlled movement, the bars and heavy doors. While a bright and clean place, there was an air of oppression that was obvious.

Paul and Silas were incarcerated, and the condition of that prison would be nothing to those of today. Of course, there would be none of the modern conveniences, including running water and electricity. And there would probably be very big rodents. So basically, prison was no picnic. It was a foul-smelling, disgusting place. We learn that Paul and Silas were arrested for healing a woman of an evil spirit. This evil spirit was earning her handlers tons of cash. So then, as today, messing with people’s money sets them off. Paul and Silas were arrested for no cause, and then treated inhumanely. They were beaten and bound, yet they were singing. When the earth shook and they had a chance to escape, they remained so that the guard would not be harmed. Such was the spirit of God within them.

Let’s face it. You have it easy. It’s not prison, it’s a children’s Sunday school class.

Pray: God, grant me the spirit of Paul and Silas to sing in the face of my challenges.

Dawn Young is a deacon in the Louisiana Conference, serving as a director of Christian education for the conference, a professor of psychology, and an adventurer.

August 29

John 3:16

For God So Loved the World

It was just a small blue box. The soldier handing it to me had just returned from eighteen months in Afghanistan. At twenty-four, he still had the face of a boy, but the weariness showed in his eyes.

I met Jacob between deployments. He showed up at a dinner our church hosted for the military, and he kept coming back. During his next deployment, I stayed in touch with him. He is the age of my stepson, and I developed a soft spot for this young man who loved his God and his country with such a passion.

After Jacob returned from Afghanistan the second time, he brought the box with him to church. He handed it to me, and when I opened the hinged lid, I saw a medal suspended from a red, white, and blue ribbon. It was a Bronze Star, which is given to honor bravery in battle. I admired it, then closed the lid, and handed it back to him. He wouldn’t take it. It was for me, he said. He wanted me to have it.

I tried very hard to make him understand that I couldn’t keep it. I didn’t deserve such a precious gift. I hadn’t fought for it. I hadn’t made the sacrifices he had made. He had earned it, not me. Jacob wouldn’t take no for an answer, and I finally relented. His Bronze Star sits in a place of honor in my home.

How many of us struggle with accepting God’s love in the same way that I struggled with accepting Jacob’s medal? We teach our children that God loves them unconditionally, while we fight our own feelings of unworthiness. So we try to earn God’s love. We teach. We bake. We clean. We serve in any way we can, hoping the feelings of unworthiness will go away, letting us bask in God’s love.

If you need proof that God loves you, you’ve got it in John 3:16. God sacrificed his Son so that we could live. We just have to believe and accept. I hadn’t earned that Bronze Star. But I hadn’t earned God’s love, either. That’s the amazing thing about God’s love. God gives it for free. Jesus did the suffering. He made the sacrifice. All I had to do — all any of us have to do — is to receive it. God loves us, just because he created us. I could argue with him until the end of time, but it wouldn’t take away his love.

Pray: Heavenly Father, when I realize how much you love us, I don’t have adequate words to say thank you. Be with me as I help the children I teach understand how much God loves them, just the way they are.

Betsi Smith has written and edited for Abingdon Press and Cokesbury for more than fifteen years.

B.I.G. Theme: Jesus Teaches Us With Stories
B.I.G. Idea: We believe that Jesus helps us know about God and understand how God wants us to live.
B.I.G. Bible Verse: Let anyone with ears to hear listen! (Luke 8:8)

July 4
The Sower
Luke 8:4-15

I love to mess about in my yard. And although I come from a long line of professional gardeners, it is not my profession. I certainly don’t want my livelihood dependent upon it. However, I enjoy getting down and dirty in the soil, digging and weeding and keeping up the plants. I enjoy the quiet patience required to water the lawn and the plants. And in the humid south where I live, watering and nurturing your plants is a daily occurrence. The evaporation rates are so rapid that plants will dry out overnight.

Working with the children you teach week after week is no different. You have to get down with them and get a little dirty to ensure that all the proper stuff is carried across in the lesson. You have to keep after it, or they will careen out of control. You have to have quiet patience, and quite a lot of it, to make certain that each gets a little of what he or she needs. And you have to keep doing it week after week. There are so many things vying for their attention, almost anything can erase what you have planted or nurtured.

Pray: God who creates and watches all things grow, be with me as I tend to the garden of these children. Let your words through me fall onto good soil.

Dawn Young is a deacon in the Louisiana Conference, serving as a director of Christian education for the conference, a professor of psychology, and an adventurer.

July 11
The Two Houses
Luke 6:46-49

The home that I live in was built on an old cotton field. I know this because many years ago when I was a child, we would drive by the field. When I moved into that neighborhood as a teenager, two things were obvious: 1) there were no trees; and 2) nothing was going to grow here without help. See, you don’t plow and harvest cotton around trees. One of the codicils of the neighborhood was that every front yard had to have a tree, at least one. But it was an old cotton field. An old, worn-out cotton field. Years of planting had taken all the nutrition out of the soil. To even plant grass on this soil was impossible. Rich river sand and top soil had to be trucked in. As a teenager, I loved working in my vegetable garden, which was six inches higher than the rest of the yard, because of all the rich soil that had been brought in.

Now, over thirty years later, we are finding that old cotton fields don’t make good foundations for homes. The old, tired dirt shifts and expands with the presence and absence of water. And as it shifts, so do our homes, creating doors that won’t shut, cracks in the ceilings, and water pipes that burst with the pressure of the shifting dirt. And the remedy is sure and expensive—a company comes in and drills beneath your home and pipes in rock—concrete—to make a firm foundation. How much better off we are when we start with the right foundation.

Pray: Gracious God, help me as I help build your foundation for these children. Give me the guidance to provide for them so they don’t have to begin again.

Dawn Young is a deacon in the Louisiana Conference, serving as a director of Christian education for the conference, a professor of psychology, and an adventurer.

July 18
The Mustard Seed
Matthew 13:31-32; 17:20

She started out very small and was destined to grow up in the church. She is quite independent. She spends time in the nursery and in the sanctuary. When the men’s group cooks breakfast, she prefers grits to eggs. She sits with the high school girls during worship, and she hugs her mother before going to children’s church. She likes to spin and dance in the space between the first row of pews and the chancel rail. She does sound checks in the morning by praying “deliver us from eagles,” instead of "evil." She is encouraged by those who allow her to loudly blow a whistle during the early morning hours on Sunday before others arrive. And at four years old, almost five, she is so bold as to pray for all those who lead worship with such conviction that tears form in everyone’s eyes.

She is a mustard seed. And through careful planting and diligence, she is already beginning to grow into the bush that will sustain many. She is four, almost five, and she already sustains me.

This doesn’t happen by accident. Mustard seeds don’t just grow. She doesn’t just grow. They must be tended to by those who care. So as you sit or stand in that classroom full of mustard seeds, remember that much is at stake.

Pray: God of all the mustard seeds, including me, help me provide these children with the material they need to become sustaining bushes.

Dawn Young is a deacon in the Louisiana Conference, serving as a director of Christian education for the conference, a professor of psychology, and an adventurer.

July 25
The Lost Sheep
Luke 15:1-7

What is up with sheep and the Bible? Seems like everywhere you turn, there are sheep, lambs, or shepherds; or stories about sheep, lambs, or shepherds. Outside of a county or state fair, I suppose most of us never see sheep or lambs. We're all probably more familiar with a hand puppet than we are a broiled lamb chop. It's just like God to give us examples that may have had great relevance about twenty centuries ago; but for most of us in modern America, we just don’t get all the sheep stuff.

And yet what little I know about lambs and shepherds makes such a beautiful analogy to us and our relationship to God. Lambs and sheep are pretty defenseless and very goofy. Like us. They frolic around, paying little attention to their surroundings, and often fall into danger as a result. Like us. When in harm's way they don’t run; they stand there bleating, waiting for a rescuer. Like us. And usually the shepherd is somewhere around to bail them out—to pick up the lamb, place it on the shoulders of the shepherd, and carry it to safety. Like us. That’s what I know about sheep. But most importantly, the safe lamb on the shepherd’s shoulders—that’s me, safe in God’s care. And God’s shoulders are big enough for all of us.

Pray: Shepherd God, lift me out of the danger I get myself into. Raise me up to your safety.

Dawn Young is a deacon in the Louisiana Conference, serving as a director of Christian education for the conference, a professor of psychology, and an adventurer.

B.I.G. Theme: Wanted: Heroes for God
B.I.G. Idea: We believe that God will help us have the courage to do hard things.
B.I.G. Bible Verse: Be strong, and let your heart take courage. (Psalm 31:24)

June 6
David and Goliath
1 Samuel 17

Are you one of those folks who find themselves in a swamp full of alligators — of your own making or choice? I did work in stress research for several years, and one of my favorite definitions of stress goes something like this: stress is when your heart, mind, and stomach all say, “No, I can’t possibly do that,” and your mouth says, “Sure, no problem.” That summed it up for me. Often we create or take on Goliath without any thought of what God is up to. That was David’s secret, and that is often why we feel the alligator snap or fail to see the giant show up.

As you prepare to teach this story this week, remember these things about David:

1. David knew that being one of God’s people was more significant than being bigger. David was one of God’s people, and he knew this Goliath fellow wasn’t.

2. David was prepared. David had well-honed skills to take into battle. David had been a shepherd who had protected his flock. He was strong and aware of the dangers.

3. David went with what he knew. Oh, the army tried to truss him up with armor and state-of-the-art equipment. But he couldn’t even walk in that gear. So he took it off and picked up his sling and some stones and went about his task.

You need to remember that not all Goliaths are giants. You may be facing a room full of little giants this week. But if you go as David — prepared — with what you know, as one of God’s own, you will Live BIG.

Pray: God of the Little People, like David, help me be prepared to face these young giants.

Dawn Young is a deacon in the Louisiana Conference, serving as a director of Christian education for the conference, a professor of psychology, and an adventurer.

June 13
Joshua and the Battle of Jericho
Joshua 6:1-16, 20, 27

I don’t know you very well, but I suspect someone approached you about teaching this Sunday school curriculum to a group of children, and you responded: “You have to be kidding.” And you had a myriad of reasons as to why you couldn’t. You are not a teacher. You don’t know much about the Bible. You are too busy right now. You don’t know a lot about children. I am sure you could have listed fifty or so reasons as to why you couldn’t or wouldn’t do this. Yet here you are. Either you didn’t have enough excuses, or you were simply overwhelmed by the asking.

One of the arguments that may have been laid out for you was that all the materials have been brought together for you. It is so easy. That’s what God laid out for Joshua. God had already handed Jericho over to the Israelites. What Joshua and the people had to do was be faithful to God’s instruction. Now, these instructions don’t sound like your typical set of battle plans. There is no talk of flanking maneuvers or laying down grazing fire. There is a set of instructions that includes marching around the city. Blowing trumpets. Silence and then shouting. It’s a good thing Joshua wasn’t a military leader, because he didn’t think this an odd strategy to defeat a city. They acted on faith. They just did it.

You have the resources. God will provide the details. Be faithful to the lesson.

Pray: God of wonders and power, help my faith be strong in you. Let me follow these lessons so that these children can follow you.

Dawn Young is a deacon in the Louisiana Conference, serving as a director of Christian education for the conference, a professor of psychology, and an adventurer.

June 20
The Fiery Furnace
Daniel 3

Smoke is insidious. It gets in your clothing, your furniture, your hair, and even your skin. It lingers for hours, days, and even weeks after a fire. Smoke hangs out in your nose and will not be moved. When clearing land several years ago, I would stack limbs, grass, and debris in a pile to be burned. And after finishing, my father would change out of his smoke-filled clothes and put them in the bed of his truck to keep the smell of smoke out of his vehicle. For me, of course, in this story smoke reveals that God kept the three Hebrew boys safe in the fire. It’s a miracle that their clothes weren’t burned. It’s a miracle that their hair wasn’t singed. But the miracle of miracles was — they didn’t even smell like smoke.

We often lament that we don’t want to worry God with the small stuff — that the little details are not enough to bring to God. This story reveals that God is in the details. God remembers even the smoke. And when three boys stood up for what they believed, rather than doing the easy, obvious thing — it changed their world. As you teach this week, remember the little details that change these children into world changers.

Pray: God of the Tiny Details, remember me as I bring your details to these children.

Dawn Young is a deacon in the Louisiana Conference, serving as a director of Christian education for the conference, a professor of psychology, and an adventurer.

June 27
Esther
Book of Esther

It s a touchy subject, knowing when to do as you are told or when to rebel and stand up to be counted. Of course, we think the hardship associated with those decisions is confined to us as adults. We face decisions at our work that if made in the wrong direction could cost us our job. If we speak out against injustice, that injustice could be spread towards us. In trying to right a wrong, we may only make it worse. Adults aren’t the only ones who face such turmoil. Children, even very young children, understand that it is important to do the right thing, but that often that can mean dangerous things. Like not being accepted, or being remembered for doing something a little different. Children worry about what all this means.

Esther takes a tremendous risk. The decree has been issued to put to death all the Jews. Queen Esther, as an undercover Jew, beloved by the king, is compelled by her uncle to take action. To intercede on behalf of these people, her people, is a gamble. First, to approach the king without his requesting an audience is unheard of and sure to bring death. Second, should she make it before the king to intercede, she must identify herself as one of those to be killed. Oh, you could keep quiet and live with the consequences. None of these is easy, and none of these has the potential for a positive outcome. But when you have faith in God and do as God commands, somehow God provides. It may not be easy. But it is as God designs.

Pray: Lord God, there are so many paths, so many forks in the road. Help me know what to do. Guide me as I guide these children.

Dawn Young is a deacon in the Louisiana Conference, serving as a director of Christian education for the conference, a professor of psychology, and an adventurer.