The Devil Made Me Do It

A few weeks ago, our Bible Story was about Saul being blinded on the road to Damascus.  I began telling the story of how Saul was a bad guy and that he went about killing Christians.  The kids talked about how bad that was to do that to good people.  It must be because of the Devil they thought.  The talk went on with them saying a bunch of bad things that the devil tries to make us do...lying, saying bad words, not obeying and such.  I agreed with them that those were all bad behaviors that we should not do.  "B" said, "Well, I think that "C" (her brother) must be the devil because he's always trying to get me to say bad words."  It was so funny except for the fact that she was SERIOUS!  She really thought he must be the devil!  I assured her that "C" is not the devil but that she still should not do any bad things that he might try to get her to do.  This idea of the devil is so hard for them to grasp at this age because they really want to put a face on him.  I told them that we really don't know what he looks like.  I was quickly corrected by "P".  He said, "I know what he looks like!  He's red and has horns and that tail with a pointy thing on it."  I couldn't convince him otherwise!  

Anyway, back to Saul...I told them how he was on the road to Damascus when a bright light from heaven came down and he was blinded! The story goes on with Jesus speaking to him, telling him to go on to the town and that someone there would tell him what he needed to do. Saul was blind for three days before Ananias met up with him and his sight was restored and he was baptized.

We acted out the story later on in the class time.  

We laid out carpet squares to make our road.  I'd brought a flashlight to be the bright light to blind Saul.

They took turns being Saul and his friends on the road.  I shined the light on them and they fell to the ground, blinded.  Oh my, they got so dramatic with their falling down!  I figured they would want a turn to be "Jesus" and get to shine the light in someone's eyes but no one asked to do that!  I couldn't believe it!

"...and he regained his sight, and got up and was baptized."  Acts 9: 18