Congrats James! This was James first Helmet ever! I am predicting many more in the future for James! At the end it was Gabe and James, with James outlasting Gabe for the win!
This week we tried for the first time "Glow in the dark Trifecta"! I am always looking to switch things up, so this week we tried the G.I.T.D. Trifecta! I am never sure how these things will turn out, but this time I think we have a winner! The G.I.T.D. Trifecta is visually awesome! (It is a lot like S*A*M) With glow sticks on the net and marking the key we started with Handball. Ben's team destroyed my team beating us 7-3! Next we played glow in the dark Basketball! My team returned the favor, beating Ben's team 5 baskets to 2! The final leg of the Trifecta was Fire, Fever, Flood! The team with the last man standing would win! In the end it came down to Jason (For my team.) and Jake! (For Ben's team.) Jason took the win giving my team the win in the inaugural edition of the G.I.T.D. Trifecta! So stoked, can't wait to try this again!
In Bible study we continued our strange stories from the Bible series with the story of Samson.
Judges 13:2-5 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
God had a special plan for Samson's life. God also has amazing things planned for our lives! God will not give us superhuman strength but he has better things planned for us!
Judges 14:5-6 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done.
Judges 15:3-5 Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
Judges 15:14-17 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. Then Samson said, “With a donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey’s jawbone I have killed a thousand men.” When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.
Samson was able to tear apart a lion, catch 300 foxes and kill a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey, but was unable to pick a godly woman!
Judges 16:15-21 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.
So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.
Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.
Judges 16:26-30 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
What a tragic end for Samson! God continued to use Samson even though he didn't make the best choices. If Samson had more closely followed God's plan for his life how much more could he have accomplished? The same is true for us! The more closely we follow God's plan for our lives the more God will be able to do through us!
THE CAPTAIN
