A NIGHT TO REMEMBER â—½ HOME
Do you know the old hymn with the lyrics – “On Christ, the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand?” We recently heard it, a song not sang a lot, but with great reminders of that which stands firm when the wind blows – Jesus – and only Jesus. This April, it’s a good time to remind our kids about that sinking sand, that other ground on which not to stand.
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Preparation – If you have a sandy beach area to take the family, how cool of a setting that would be! If not, then perhaps just a bag of sand poured out in a tub would suffice! And a few figures to manipulate in the sand. Place a little cup of water, press it into the sand. Finally, find a cool version of this old hymn to play for the family!
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Play the hymn as the family listens…
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Why would it be dumb to build a house on quicksand? (Tell the kids what quicksand is, first!) Let the kids answer the obvious – because the house would sink! And everything in it would disappear! Press the figures under the sand, then pull them up!
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Have you ever placed your hope in something only to be disappointed?
What if you hope to enjoy an ice cream in the hot sun? It melts almost before you can eat a few bites…how disappointing! Where does ice cream need to be stored, and why? (In the fridge, where it’s cold, so it won’t melt).
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Our hope has to be built on something solid, that won’t sink, or melt in the hot sun. And that something solid is Jesus. He is our hope, always, and will never disappoint. (Ask the kids to let the sand run through their fingers and see how it’s not solid at all!)
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What if you place your hope in the lights in the house? What happens if there’s a power outage, or when darkness comes at night? (We can’t see, we need the light!) Light comes and goes, batteries die, electricity shorts out, and we need a power source! (Place a figure again under the sand and note that there would be no light under there!)
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Our hope has to be in Jesus, the Light of the World, because he lights our way even in the dark!
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What if you place your hope in people? Have you ever hurt your friends’ feelings and they just say, “I’m not going to play with you anymore,” or “You’re not my friend?” People are fickle, and that rhymes with pickle! It means they’re wishy washy and not dependable. (Make a path through the sand and then cover it up – how quickly sand shifts!)
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Our hope has to be in Jesus, the friend that never leaves us but is always for us!
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What if your hope is in a boat on the water? That boat could spring a leak, a storm could rise up, or all sorts of things could happen and we might sink! (Let the kids place their fingers in the cup of water and see how it’s not solid at all, either!)
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Our hope has to be in Jesus, because he’s with us at all times to speak to storms to be still, to carry us to safety and to rescue us when we are afraid.
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Read Matthew 7 together:
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Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
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Jesus is the rock on which we stand – all other ground is sinking sand.
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(Play the song again and sing along…)