Gotta A Good Thing Going

Last night after Young Life Club, I remembered that I wasn't going to be able to be at Campaigners on Wednesday morning as usual.  We have 8 - 15 guys who show up for a our weekly Campaigner Bible Study at 6:00am at a local coffee shop just around the corner from the high school.  Anyway, I wasn't going to be able to lead on Wednesday and when I checked with the other leader who usually comes he told me he wasn't going to be able to be there either.

So, I started to walk around the room and let the guys know we wouldn't be having Campaigners this week.

That's when Mitch & Vinnie decided they didn't need no stinkin' leader.

Vinnie's voice boomed over the music on our sound system.  "Hey everyone!  Guys campaigners, Wednesday morning at Barnie's.  Mitch & I will be leading it."

What a blessing for me to hear for 2 reasons.  First, it's obvious these guys love coming to Campaigners.  It amazes me that they all get up so early every week to hang out with us and read God's word.  And, number 2, that these guys are willing to take the initiative to read scripture with their friends and discuss it on their own blows me away.  That's just super cool.

I can't wait to hear how it goes.

You can't take the car out of the parking lot until you pay for it.

So it can be done!

This is a refreshing story from the Chicago Tribune - Practicing abstinence, bride and groom have never kissed.

When the officiant tells Claudaniel Fabien he can kiss his bride at the altar Saturday, no one will fault the couple for a little "should I tilt my head this way, or that way?" awkwardness.

It will be the couple's very first kiss.

In his Song of Solomon series, Tommy Nelson answers the question, "How far can we go?" by using an analogy of a cliff.  We don't want our kids to ask how close they can get to the edge.  Let's just stay away from the edge.

Of course there are the folks who think this is crazy, those who ask how you know he/she's right for you unless you try her out, the live together before you get married just so you know crowd.

To them, Melody responds, "You can't take the car out of the parking lot until you pay for it."

Read the whole story.

Human Pinata

Wrap a leader up in duct tape with the sicky side out. Stick candy all over the tape.

Then using ropes strung around his arms & legs (or a harness if you have one, which every good leader does) hang him from a tree.

One by one, let the kids beat the candy from the leader with a pool noodle.

If you want to do it inside a building, you could do something similar to this picture I got in an e-mail titled "Redneck Timeout".

Ellen & Me - We Have Something In Common

Check this out...Ellen & I are following 17 of the same people on Twitter. I thought for sure we wouldn't have anyone in common, but turns out we both like Dave Ramsey, Chick Fil A, & the Drudge Report. How 'bout that?

Where'd I get this info? From Twiangulate. It's a Twitter cross referencing tool that lets you compare your friends & followers with those of other Twitter users.

You can even use it to see connections between two or three other people. This might be useful if you use Twitter for professional learning community purposes. You know a few key players in your particular industry and want to know who they both follow commonly. Chances are, that'd be a good person for you to check out, too.

ABCya! - Interactive Educational Games

My kids have used Starfall for years.  It's one of the most simple & helpful reading websites we've found. I've just come across something comparable.

ABCya! is has what looks like hundreds of interactive educational games.  It's split into grade level & categories.  Here's the 2nd grade list.

Here's one game that helps kids with sequencing. It's a train track.  The object is to add the next block in the sequence in order to build the track for the train to go.  Finish one track and a new one appears.

My oldest daughter is still having a hard time with money.  What's more confusing than a dime being worth more than a penny and a nickle less than a dime?  This application gives kids a number of cents; (practicing my semicolon use - did I do it right?) they have to drag the right number of coins into the box and then check to see if they're right.

 

And what's more fun than Bingo?  Am I the only one who spells that word out every time I read it? ABCya! has a math Bingo game that's simple, but effective.  It times the player and for strategy purposes repeats several numbers on the same card, so you can decide which one you want to use to get Bingo as quickly as possible.

Follow ABCya! on Twitter, for the latest interactive games.