YOUTH GROUP GAME FOR BACK-TO-SCHOOL
Bible: Psalm 121:8 (NLT)
Bottom Line: God is with you wherever you go.
SUPPLIES
· Backpacks (one per team)
· Juice boxes (one per student)
· Orange cones
· Garbage can
GAME PREP
This game requires a large amount of space and can be played in or outdoors.
Divide students into two teams of equal size.
If you have more than twenty students, create teams of ten or less, and make as many as you can.
Give each team an empty backpack.
After determining the number of students on each team, place one juice box for each person on the team inside each backpack.
Use cones to designate a start and finish line.
From the start to the finish line should be twice the length of a team if they were laying on the floor, side-by-side, in plank position.
Place a garbage can at the finish line.
HOW TO PLAY THE GAME
Say: It’s time to go back to school… not right now, but we’re going to play a game to get us ready.
A backpack is vital to your daily school life.
Without it, you become that person stumbling down the hallway dropping their books everywhere.
So, in this game, your team's backpack is essential.
When I say, GO, everyone on your team will lay down in plank position, side by side, except for the person at the end of your team’s line.
The first person in line on each team should be laying on the start line.
There should be no space in between each person on your team – you have to squeeze next to each other.
The person at the end of your team’s line will grab your team’s backpack, run to the front of their team’s line, open the backpack, and pull out a juice box.
They will drink the juice box as fast as they can, put their backpack on again, and dump the empty juice box in the garbage can at the finish line.
Then, they will run back to their team, lay down in plank position, take off the backpack and pass it from one person to the next down the line (while everyone remains in plank position).
When the last person in line receives the backpack, they will run to the front of the line and the relay race.
The first team to cross the finish line with their team’s backpack – wins!
If a team finishes all of their juice boxes and still hasn’t reached the finish line, have them continue the relay race with just the backpack.
TEACH
Say: During a typical school day, your backpack goes with you wherever you go.
If you lay it down and can’t find it for even just a few minutes, it’s instant panic – there goes your phone, books, homework, lunch… everything.
When you find it again – instant relief!
Maybe you have never thought about how important your backpack is, but it is the carrier of everything you need to be successful in school.
Your relationship with God and His presence in your life is a million times more vital to your daily life than your backpack, but sometimes we forget that God is with us… all the time, everywhere we go.
Read Psalm 121:8.
The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.
This chapter in the Book of Psalms is known as "the traveler's psalm."
In your Bible, there might be a title above this chapter that says “a song of ascents” which means “a song for a journey to a higher place.”
Most travel in Bible times was on foot, and people would often walk up to 20 miles a day while on a journey.
The roads were dangerous - you could have been robbed, beaten, or even killed while traveling alone or with your family.
How comforting it would be during those times to know that God is watching over you now and forever.
Life is a journey.
From the time you enter Kindergarten until you graduate, you will spend at least 2,340 days in school.
So, right now, a large part of your "journey" is happening at school, but you are not on the journey alone because God is with you.
God isn't up in Heaven, withdrawn from your life. He is right there with you.
So, knowing God is with you should take away your fears and give you faith to be strong and courageous in how you represent God to those around you.
You might lose your backpack throughout the day, but you never have to wonder where God is because He is with you.
As you walk through your school’s doors every day, remember that you’re never alone.
When you pick up your backpack, let that remind you that you carry God with you everywhere you go.
And as you journey throughout your school day, you can be bold and have faith because God is watching out for you.
God is with you wherever you go.