Story - Mine twice over!
At Christmas we remember the coming of Jesus Christ into our world. But why did He come? The Bible says that He came to redeem us. Redeem is a very old word that isn't used much today, but it simply means "to buy something back again." Here is a famous old story that helps us understand that Jesus came to redeem us.
A boy once made a toy boat. He was very proud of his boat because he hadn't bought it, he had made it himself. One day whilst sailing his boat on the lake, the wind suddenly strengthened and blew the toy boat out of sight towards the other side of the lake. The boy immediately ran around to the far side of the lake to look for his boat. He searched and searched, but couldn't find it anywhere, the boat was lost. The boy was bitterly disappointed because this wasn't any ordinary boat, this was his special boat that he had made with his own hands.
Sometime later the boy was walking past a shop. He happened to look in the window, and there up for sale was his boat. He knew it was his because he had made it himself and knew exactly what it looked like. Immediately the boy rushed into the shop and paid the asking price for his boat. On leaving the shop, the boy looked admiringly at his boat and said "Now you are mine twice over. I made you, and now I have bought you back again. I have redeemed you."
That is a picture of what God has done for us. He made us and therefore owns us, but because of our sin we became lost and separated from Him. But in His love, God sent Jesus to buy us back, to redeem us. And the price Jesus paid? - His own blood that He shed on the cross. So although at Christmas we remember the coming of Jesus to earth, we must also think of Easter and remember the purpose of His coming, to redeem us to God.
Illusion - Three cup challenge.
Here is a simple challenge you can try out on your friends (or parents!).
Take three identical cups (plastic or cardboard ones are fine) and place them in a row on a table, with the centre cup (cup 2) the right way up, and the outside cups ( cups 1 and 3) downwards. Challenge your friend to turn two cups over at a time (i.e. one with each hand) three times, so that all the cups end up the right way up. Say "I will demonstrate how this is done."
Firstly, turn over cups 1 and 2.
Secondly, turn over cups 1 and 3.
Thirdly, turn over cups 1 and 2.
All the cups will now be the right way up. Try it out for yourself.
Before you get your friend to take the challenge, invert the middle cup (cup 2), leaving cups 1 and 3 the right way up. No matter what your friend tries, they will find it impossible to end up with three cups the right way up!
The difference, of course, is that when you did the challenge, you started with one cup the right way up. When your friends do the challenge they will be starting with two cups the right way up!
Don't people notice that they are starting with the cups set up in a different way? Only very rarely, and then usually only after you have demonstrated 'the right way to do it' a number of times.
After they have had a few failed attempts, you may wish to tell your friends your secret. Or you may wish to leave them guessing!
Laugh break - George's favourite jokes.
If you live in or near Auckland, New Zealand, you may have met my cheeky friend George when he was visiting your school, church or holiday camp. Below are some of George's favourite jokes which he has asked me to share with you.
1. What goes quick, quick, quick, quick? - A duck with hiccups.
2. What goes peck, peck, peck, boom? - A chicken in a minefield.
3. Why did Captain Cook sail to New Zealand? - It was faster than swimming.
4. What never asks questions but gets lots of answers? - A doorbell.
5. Why do skeletons stay home every night? - They have no body to go out with.
6. What's the smallest room you will ever find? - A mushroom.
7. Why are they not making ladders any longer? - They are long enough already.
8. What was the first animal in outer space? - A cow. The one that jumped over the moon.
9. What do you get if you cross a famous detective with a skeleton? - Sherlock Bones.
10. Why is everyone tired on April 1st.? - They have just finished a 31 day March.
If you have a favourite joke (or jokes) why not email it to me at mnmsweetsur@xtra.co.nz George and I may then include it in a future edition of "Kidzone".
Your questions answered - Why did God use Adam's rib to create Eve?
To make the first woman, God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. Then He took one of Adam's ribs and built Eve from it. Eve was to become Adam's helper and wife. The name 'Eve' means 'life', because she would become the mother of the whole human race. Everybody who has ever lived since then has descended from her.
God chose to use a rib rather than one of Adam's other bones because this is the one bone in our body that will grow back if it is removed. Thus Adam would not have to go through life with one rib short. If he had done so, this world would not have been perfect. And God clearly tells us that His creation was indeed perfect in the beginning, before Adam and Eve's later rebellion in the garden of Eden which spoiled everything.
Some people mistakenly believe that because God removed one of Adam's ribs, all males now have one less rib than females. This is completely untrue. We all have 24 ribs each, 12 on each side of our rib cages.
God blessed Adam and Eve and told them to have many children and fill the earth. So it was God who designed marriage of a man and a woman, and the family unit, way back in the beginning.
