For the last year, we have been without a pastor at Bridgton Alliance church.  Actually, we have Debbie, but her gifting is in teaching and counseling, so we are looking for a pastor whose strengths are preaching and administration.  Anyway, during this past year, Debbie and I have been sharing the preaching duties, with a few guest speakers from time to time.  Debbie preached yesterday, and, as often happens, I did the five minute 'children's message' early on in the service.

I don't normally blog about a five minute routine at my own church, but yesterday was different.  I got out my old cardboard cigar boxes and performed what was the second Bible-based routine I ever wrote.  It's a classic kids' routine with lots of slapstick humor and a red herring that ends with a nine box herringbone pattern of boxes balanced on my forehead.

It was fun to do an old routine that hasn't been performed in over a year.  The theme of trust Christ fit nicely with Debbie's sermon on Jacob wrestling with God.  It's wasn't an exact match; Jacob and Jesus were separated by many centuries, but both Debbie's take on this classic Old Testament story and my routine focus on surrendering our own agendas to God's will.

And it made the kids laugh a lot, too.