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IT'S COOL TO BE WISE

Week 1 - TRUST IN THE LORD

For Leaders:
This week’s material is based around the wise saying from Proverbs 3 v 5 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t rely on your own intelligence. 

Week 1 PowerPoint slides, leaders’ notes and various other items downloadable from the bottom of this page.

SLIDE 1 - Series theme slide ‘It’s Cool to be Wise’
SLIDE 2 - Week 1 key phrase slide ‘Trust in the Lord’

PART 1   

LEAD-IN SESSION drama

Outline for Leaders

Ed's adventure begins in his home living room, where he tells us all about the old wardrobe he's purchased. To Ed's amazement he has discovered that this incredible piece of old furniture, actually turns out to be a travelling machine! This week Ed takes his first flight into the unknown where he lands in a place called Trustington. Here he meets a workman in the street. The key word for the session is ‘TRUST’.

Characters: Ed, Narrator, Workman

Sound effects: Any sound that could be used for a travel machine starting up. Props: Travelling machine, Week 1 code piece ‘XXIII’, Ed’s chart.

The travelling machine showcased throughout this material is a lightweight bolt together wardrobe (pictured right). However, the travelling machine need not be a wardrobe. Other ideas might include a quick put-up one-man tent, a foldable screen, or a big cardboard box.

REMEMBER - As with all props your travelling machine must be suitable and safe for purpose and not create a hazard for its users or anyone else.

Props for Scene 1 – Home living room
Anything to create a simple living room scene. Small table / table cloth, table lamp, vase of flowers, couple of chairs. 

Props for Scene 2 – Workman in street
Workman’s kit – hard hat, hi-vis vest, boots, fake Kango hammer, ear protectors, roadwork cones, City of Trusting name sign. Cardboard box made to look old and with a few tins in it that will rattle.
(A Kango can be made of cardboard but imagination and improvisation are the key.) 

The Wardrobe Takes Off

Scene 1 - Home living room

ED - Hi kids I’m Ed, the other day I bought this old wardrobe. You’ll never guess what I found hidden inside – a secret code chart and instructions on how to use the wardrobe as a travelling machine. Look I’ve got the chart on screen for you.
SLIDE 3 - PowerPoint slide Week 1 chart ‘A’
What do you make of that? The instructions told me how to travel to six places, crack a code and get wise. At first, I thought it was a joke, left in there by the previous owner but I’ve thought about it and I’m prepared to give it a go! After all, what have I got to lose?

Narrator: Oh my! Now Ed’s inside the wardrobe. It sounds as if it’s taking off. What’s going on – wow, maybe it is a travelling machine after all!
(Sound effect of wardrobe taking off.) 

Scene 2 – Workman in street

(Quick stage change by helpers to street scene - workman drilling the road with Kango, cones, workman in high-vis vest, boots, hard hat. Road sign and signpost on the street. Scene opens with Kango sound effect.)

Ed: (Ed opens the wardrobe door and looks around in absolute amazement. Stopping his Kango the workman looks at the wardrobe in utter shock as Ed shouts out ...) Wow! Where am I?

Workman: (with a look of stark amazement) You’re in the City of Trustington, New Zealand. Where have you come from?

Ed: That is cool! A few minutes ago I was in England. I’ve travelled thousands of miles in hardly any time at all! .  

Workman: Well you’re not in England now, you’re right in the middle of the street and one with a big hole in it! Better watch where you’re treading.

Ed: OK I’ll be careful. 

(Ed walks over and greets the workman, they shake hands.)

Workman: Wardrobes landing in the street from nowhere, what on earth is going on?

Ed: Sorry, take too long to explain, but I’m trying to crack a code and somewhere around here there must be clues I need.  

Workman: (gesturing as if this is all a bit much) You’ve gotta be joking! This all sounds ridiculous to me mate – you off TV or something? 

Ed: (Having a good look around as he speaks) Hey, get serious, no joke, I need the first piece of the code, it’s really important – the instructions were whoever cracks this code gets wise.     

Workman: This is so crazy – you expect me to believe this stuff? (With emphasis) hey wait a minute, earlier one of my guys dug up a box full of junk. Here it is. 

Ed: (frantically opens the box – rummages through contents) yes! yes! Fantastic!

Workman: OK, OK, want to let me in on it?

Ed: (holding it up for the children to see) A piece of the code XXIII and a clue -the first part of this city, a 5 letter word beginning and ending with the letter 'T' what could it be? City of Trustington 5 letters – city doesn’t fit and Trustington doesn’t fit – kids do you know what word this could be, 5 letters starting and ending with a 'T'? (ED pauses for a few moments to see if the kids can work this out.) Hey wait, the first five letters of Trustington - TRUST that fits, that’s the word I needed, a 5 letter word and it's TRUST. 

Ed: (continues, facing the workman) TRUST that’s an important word isn't it. We need to know who we can trust. WISE people know who they can trust don't they? 

Narrator: And with that Ed thanks the workman for his help and gets back into the wardrobe. 

(Sound effect of wardrobe taking off)   

Workman: (shaking his head and looking dazed) Did all of that just happen? (Scratching his head in bemused fashion), TRUST is an important word isn't it. I have to have men I can trust to do a good and safe job for me.  

( SLIDE 4 - Chart ‘B’ with the word TRUST and Week 1 code piece hi-lighted can now be displayed.)

Narrator:
Wow, what an adventure. I wonder where Ed is off to next. But there’s one thing we know Ed’s first word is TRUST and it’s a really important one. Later we’re going to hear more about TRUST.

Part 2  

Bible Chat - Listen Up time (SLIDE 5)

Trust in The lord

Bible verse: Proverbs 3 v 5 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t rely on your own intelligence.

Over the next six weeks we are going to look at some very wise sayings found in the Bible, because ‘IT’S COOL TO BE WISE’. Throughout your life you'll need to make lots of decision and choices and you'll want them to be good ones. So here is our first wise saying:

SLIDE 6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t rely on your own intelligence.

Every day we put our trust in people and don't even think about it. Here are some situations that we all come across, let's talk about how we use our trust.
(Show the children the pictures and ask them to think about how trust comes into the situations illustrated.) 

SLIDE 7 -  Bus
Discuss with the children where trust is exercised with regards to stepping onto and taking a journey on a bus. (When we step on a bus, we put our trust in the bus driver that he knows where he is going and that he will take us safely to where we are going. We also trust the mechanics who maintain the bus that they do a good job so that the bus won't break down.) 

PowerPoint slide 8 - Pharmacy
Discuss with the children who we are trusting here. You may first need to discuss what a pharmacy is. (When we go to the pharmacy we trust the pharmacist to give us the right medicine and advice.)

PowerPoint slide 9 - Bridge
Who are we trusting here? (When we walk across a bridge, we're trusting the people who built it and the people who maintain it, even though it may have been a long time ago. We trust that the materials used are strong enough to hold the weight.)    

Jesus wants us to trust Him too. In fact, Jesus wants us to trust Him with all of our hearts. That means trust Him with our very lives. Trust Him to guide us when we make important decisions in life. As we grow up there will be lots of things we have to decide on. Ask the children what sort of decisions they will have to make as they are growing up, possible examples; where we go to college/university, who our friends are, where we live, what job we have.

These are all important decisions. We need help in life with our decisions and we can TRUST Jesus to help us. Jesus is reliable, He doesn't have moods. Jesus doesn't keep changing His mind and He is always there to listen to our prayers. What Jesus says is true. Not everyone we meet can be trusted but Jesus can! 

We can trust Jesus to help us check life out. For instance, if someone asks you to do something and you are not sure if it's the right thing to do, ask Jesus about it. If you are then still unsure - don't do it! Many people think they always know best, but they don't! Many people just trust themselves all of the time. In our wise saying today we are told not to trust in our selves. When we trust Jesus He is really pleased and He really will help us, especially when we face difficult situations. Jesus, God's Son knows what is the best path for us to follow. When we trust Him, we become wise and we stay away from things that spoil our lives and make us unhappy.

part 3     

Response time (in small groups)

1.    Ask the children who they put their trust in. Write down their responses on a white board.

2.    Explain that trust is like faith and faith pleases God.

3.    Sometimes we may have doubts about trusting God. Does anyone have doubts? Discuss their responses. Give out large post-its and ask them to write a short prayer asking God to help them trust in Him more.

Week 1 DOWNLOADS

Lead-in Drama script, Bible chat & response time leaders’ notes
Week 1 PowerPoint slides

Roadworks sign for drama
‘Trustington’ sign for drama
Week 1 code piece XXIII for drama
Ed’s adventure chart full colour version
Ed’s adventure chart black and white version for handout / take-home sheet
Code collection chart for printing on back of adventure chart

Alternative charts:
Ed’s Adventure charts A & B with blank centre for alternative travelling machine to be inserted.