Wow!

I knew tonight would be a "wow" night last week when I read over the lesson and realized it was going to be on Joseph and Potiphar's wife. I was right.

I was really trying to gear it more towards resisting temptation in general, but that's a little hard to do given the particular Bible story we were discussing. They paid more attention tonight than they have all year. Sigh.

So here's my "wow" story. I started off by defining "temptation" (none of them knew what it was, and when I got done, they concluded it was "like peer pressure"). Then I asked them to each write down something you might be tempted to do and put it in a hat. We took turns taking a slip out of the hat, reading it, and then discussing why it was tempting and how we could avoid it.

The one I pulled out said, "try to commit adultery with someone's wife." Of course, they all tittered and thought that was hilarious and wanted to know who wrote it and all that. (And we hadn't even gotten to Mrs. Potiphar yet.) So I tried to make it a little more relevant to them by turning it into a boyfriend/girlfriend thing. I asked what they would say to someone who was being tempted to sleep with their boyfriend/girlfriend.

I should have known better.

I really should have known better.

These kids don't see anything wrong with that. Anything. At all.

The answer? I've never heard that boy talk so softly before. In this kind of low, trembly voice, he says, "Come on, Baby!"

~~~~~

Despite the inauspicious beginnings, we did manage to have a relatively productive evening, although I was dismayed to note that most of the things I mentioned as being temptations to sin they didn't see anything wrong with. We closed with a time of prayer, and all agreed to pray for each other through the week to resist temptation. I guess it was a step in the right direction. I just never really considered having to address moral impurity as a children's pastor. Guess I'd better start considering it real quick.