Philippians 4:4-9 - 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Tonight we focused on Paul's example and plea for us to rejoice in any and every situation. To do this, we re-visited a lesson we had done more than a year ago....because it remains one of the lessons the kids remember to this day....and still quote! "BE THE COFFEE!" Let me explain.
We started with an introduction to Corrie Ten Boom, for those who didn't already know who she was. In the early 1940's, the Ten Boom's hid Jews from the Nazis in the Netherlands by building a
secret room in Corrie's room for them to hide in. Click on the secret room link to see actual video of this hiding place. Family and supporters smuggled building supplies into the Ten Boom house by rolling them into newspapers or putting them in briefcases so that the room could be built. On February 28, 1944, the Ten Boom's scheme to hide and rescue as many Jews as they could was discovered and their home was raided and they were arrested. Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to a concentration camp (gave a brief "PG" description of what that was). Six Jews were hiding in the secret room behind the false wall of Corrie's bedroom when the home was raided. All but one survived and escaped.
We then read the kids an excerpt from Corrie's book she wrote after her release from the concentration camp. It's called, "The Hiding Place" and is about the conditions they endured and found ways to rejoice in during their time at the camp. The excerpt was about Corrie, her sister Betsie, and some fleas, which really were lice. You're probably thinking, "Huh? What is she talking about?" Click on this
link to read the story for yourself. But beware, it is quite convicting!
We took out two carrots, two eggs, and some instant coffee. I asked one of the kids to use a butter knife and fork to try and cut one of the raw carrots. It didn't cut easily! One of the kids then broke open one of the eggs and we saw how its thin outer shell protects its liquid insides. We looked at the coffee grounds then too and talked about how, as they are, they don't taste very good and aren't very impressive looking.
We set three pots of water to boiling then and put the carrots, the second egg, and the coffee each in their own separate pot to cook for a few minutes.
Now it was time to check on our carrots, egg, and coffee. After draining the carrots, we asked one of the kids to once again use the same knife and fork as before to try cutting the carrots. They were soft and much easier to cut this time. We cooled the egg under running water then and had one of the kids break it. Inside the shell, the egg was hard-boiled. Next, we poured the coffee into a cup and passed it around for the kids to smell. Some of them even wanted to taste it.
Each one of our "subjects" faced the same adversity...boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. After being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. But after sitting through the boiling water, its insides became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique however. After they were in the boiling water, instead of them being changed, they changed the water.
Paul faced all kinds of adversity...imprisonment, floggings, being stoned and rejected. He could have chosen to be like the carrots, entering prison strong in his faith and unrelenting or unwilling to give up. But then after a time amidst his circumstances, he could have become hopeless, weak, and not so sure of his faith or the God he once served so fervently. "I can't believe this is happening to me. I am a servant for God. He's supposed to be blessing me, not letting harm come to me. Where is God's protection? Where is He? He's just left me here to rot in this prison. Maybe He's not sovereign and in control of all that happens to me after all. Poor me!"
Paul could have entered prison like the egg, with a malleable heart, one that God could easily shape and form into something that would give Him great glory. But then, after a time in his difficult circumstances, his outsides still looked the same, but his insides became hardened and stiff with bitterness and resentment. "I can't believe I was here to serve God and do His work and this is how He repays me...with a prison sentence! Why God? What's the point and how on earth can you use this for your glory? I sure wasted my time in following You. I'm no good to anyone sitting in this jail cell rotting away like this. If I ever get out of here, I'm going home. Forget this! I serve and this is the reward? I don't think so!"
Paul did not choose to be carrots or eggs though. And neither did Corrie and her sister Betsie. Instead, they chose to be like the coffee beans. They changed the hot water...their circumstances. Coffee reaches its peak flavor at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. The hotter the water gets, the better the coffee tastes. When things were at their worst for Paul and Corrie and Betsie, they got better and, as a result, they made things better around them....and for the people around them. Paul actually witnessed to and converted some of his jailors! Ten months after being imprisoned in the concentration camp, Betsie Ten Boom died. But before she did, she told her sister Corrie, "There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still." She never stopped praising God and rejoicing in who He was, regardless of her circumstances. Twelve days after Betsie died, Corrie was released from the concentration camp.
We ended our time asking the kids to think about the last time they faced a difficult circumstance, a trial of some kind in their lives. We asked them if they responded in such a way that made them a carrot, an egg, or a ground coffee bean. We challenged them to keep those visuals and examples at the forefronts of their minds the next time they faced storms of adversity in their lives.
To watch The Hiding Place in its entirety, click
here.
