High Wire

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September 11th, 2016 .:. .:. Room 301

Pathways Kids Weekend Small Groups

This curriculum is for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders.

This Weeks Scope

Unhappy Days
Bible Story: Unhappy Days (Joseph in Jail) Genesis 40 (Supporting: Genesis 39)
Bottom Line: When life doesnt make sense, you can trust God is with you.
Memory Verse: Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5, NIrV
Life App: Trustputting your confidence in someone you can depend on.
Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what.

Welcome Time
Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience
todays story.
Before kids arrive, pray for each regular attendee by name. Pray for those who might visit your group
for the first time. Pray for the conversations your group will have today. Ask God to give you wisdom
and guidance to respond to any difficult circumstances that may come to light as a result of todays
content. Pray also for the kids whose families are doing well. Pray that they would internalize todays
message and be able to recall it during times when life doesnt make sense
Bible Story: Genesis 40 (This is for your reference if you need it!)
Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of
Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put them
in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. The
captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them. After they had been in
custody for some time, each of the two menthe cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who
were being held in prisonhad a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.
When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaohs
officials who were in custody with him in his masters house, Why do you look so sad today? We both
had dreams, they answered, but there is no one to interpret them. Then Joseph said to them, Do not
interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams. So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He
said to him, In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, and on the vine were three branches. As soon as
it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaohs cup was in my hand, and I took
the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaohs cup and put the cup in his hand. This is what it means,

Joseph said to him. The three branches are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your
head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaohs cup in his hand, just as you used to
do when you were his cupbearer. But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me
kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. I was forcibly carried off from the land
of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon. When the chief
baker saw that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, he said to Joseph, I too had a dream: On
my head were three baskets of bread. In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but
the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head. This is what it means, Joseph said. The
three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and impale your body on
a pole. And the birds will eat away your flesh. Now the third day was Pharaohs birthday, and he gave
a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the
presence of his officials: He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the
cup into Pharaohs handbut he impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his
interpretation. The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.
What You Need: Hula-hoops; 1 for each kid or 1 for every 2-3 kids
What You Do:
Challenge the kids to do various tricks with the hula-hoops. You can do the suggestions below
and/or add your own.
o Hula the normal way
o Twirl the hoop on an arm
o Twirl it on one foot
o Use it like a jump rope
o See if two kids can hula together
What You Say:
That was fun and pretty funny at times! Youre getting better and better at circus performing.
[Transition] Lets go to Large Group, where well see what other kinds of circus things are
happening.
Lead your group to the Large Group area. (We are transitioning back to this format for the fall)

Activity #1
What You Need: Jail Journal Activity Pages; 6-8 per small group, pencils, pens, markers, Bibles
What You Do:
Tell kids to pretend they are in jail with Joseph, and they are on the staff of the jail newspaper,
The Jail Journal. They will write articles and draw pictures.
Remind kids that all good stories include Who, What, When, Where, and Why.
Divide kids into four groups, and assign each group one story:
o How/why Joseph ended up in jail
o The cupbearers (drink tasters) story/dream
o The bakers story/dream
o Joseph helps cupbearer and baker, but hes still in jail
Depending on the number of kids in each group, you could also suggest they assign each
person a role: illustrator, writer, and presenter.
Remind kids to brainstorm together as a group before they start on their article.
When groups have finished their articles, allow time for them to share the stories and pictures
with the other groups.
What You Say:
Joseph was handed a pretty raw deal. He was sold by his brothers, and then unfairly sent to jail, and
then when he helped others, they didnt help him get out of jail in return. I bet none of that made sense
to Joseph. I know it wouldnt make sense to me! But God was with Joseph through it all, just like Hes
with us. [Bottom Line] When life doesnt make sense, you can trust God is with you. [Make It
Personal] (Tell kids an age-appropriate story about a time your life that didnt make sense, but
God was with you and He worked things out in the end.) Just like my story turned out all right when
I trusted God with the results, so will Josephs. But thats a story for another week!

Activity #2
What You Need: Bibles
What You Do:
Look up Proverbs 3:5 with the kids and read it aloud several times.
Pair the kids up. Make sure the kids in each pair are of a similar size. If you have an odd
number of kids, some will have to take turns.
Tell pairs to sit back to back.
Challenge them to stand up without using their hands, by pressing against each others backs
while they push up. As they do so, they should say the verse together.
Do this several times, letting kids switch partners, if there is interest.
What You Say:
Just like you had to lean on someone else and trust them to keep pushing on you so you wouldnt fall
down and could complete this activity, you also need to lean on God and trust Him to hold you up when
things dont make sense. [Bottom Line] When life doesnt make sense, you can trust God is with
you, kind of like you trusted your friend was with you in this activity.

Prayer
Opposites

Time

What You Need: No supplies needed

What You Do:
Tell kids to think of a situation in their lives where they need to trust God. It could be something
similar to one of the scenarios in Scenario Bingo or it could be something completely different.
Then ask kids to finish this prayer, God, help me trust you when and finish with the situation
they just thought of.
Close with the prayer below.
What You Say:
God, we know that You are good and powerful. You know everything that happens to us, and You know
how things will work out in the future even when we dont. Help us to trust You during those hard times
when life doesnt make sense. Help us to remember that You are always with us. In Jesus name,
amen.
Tell kids to show their teams Jail Journal article to parents and explain its meaning as they travel
home.