Dude, church ROCKS! (well, not litterally...)

Okay, in church, we've been doing a study of Joshua, and it's been really cool. Today, some of the people actually got to move around. :D I'll tell it in "story version" because I find it easier to describe things that way.

The sanctuary was a large, rectangular room with pews down the two long sides. The pulpit was at the front of the room, so it could be seen by everyone. The pews were full, but not to the point of breaking. The pastor was behind the pulpit, speaking to the congregation.

"Today, we're going to do things a bit differently." He said with a smile. He took his Bible and walked out from behind the pulpit. He had a small stack of papers in his hands as well as the Bible. He looked around and began picking people from the congregation, some children and some grown adults. He began putting them in different areas according to the piece of paper he had given them.

"Gilgal," he began, pointing to a boy with that written on his piece of paper, "you go into the back, okay? I need the Israelite army" he motioned to three people with numbers on their papers "to go back to Gilgal, where the army is stationed. And Joshua," he pointed to a tall man with a paper that said "Joshua" on it, "you can head back there too." All of the designated people went back to where they were supposed to go, some with more flare than others. Laughter was heard as "Joshua" began walking like an army man, looking rather ridiculous doing it.

"All right, Bethel, you go up to the front with your army," he pointed to two men holding papers with "Bethel" and "Bethel's army" written on them and the two men walked up to the pulpit. "And Ai and Ai's army, you can come over here." He pointed to a pew near the front of the church and two men went and stood there. He had another person hold two pieces of paper with a picture of the sun on one, and the moon on the other, to remind us all what time it was in the story.

The story began, of a great fight with the Israelites against Ai. Joshua sent a legion of men from Gilgal to hide in the rocky mountains behind the city of Ai late at night. (At that time in the story, a young boy designated as the correct amount of the army hid behind a pew behind the city of Ai and it's army) Next, Joshua sent more of his army to ambush Ai. Joshua then followed with the main army, situated on the mountain opposite of Ai, and they prepared for battle.

The next day, all of the army of Ai went to confront the main army of Israel. (At this time, all of the designated people were in their designated spots.) Joshua and the main army of Israel faked defeat and began to retreat, then God told Joshua to stretch out his spear towards the city of Ai. (At this point, Ai's army and the main army of Israel and Joshua are in the isle between the two rows of pews and "Joshua" pretended to hold out a spear in the direction of "Ai") At that time, the rest of the army that was in hiding attacked the city and set in on fire, to show the army of Ai that they had nowhere to run. Joshua and the main army of Israel attacked and defeated the army of Ai, and the army of Bethel, which had come to help Ai's army. They then returned to the city of Ai and set it on fire once again, and it fell to the hands of the Israelites.

Okay, didn't that sound like fun to watch? (Not the real thing, the thing we did in church.) It was really cool, and it helped you visualize the story better. God had told Joshua some of the stuff to do, but other parts were from Joshua's knowledge of battle and from things God told them in the book of Deuteronomy. There were three points to the message which I will tell ya in a different post, once we're done with the book of Joshua. If you haven't read that book, and like adventure, then I would say READ IT!!! I mean, the Bible has everything! Adventure, prophecy, romance, all of it. (Ruth, I will tell you right now, [even though I haven't read the other book I'm about to mention] kicks Twilight's toosh.) It's the greatest book ever written, and can really change your life, for the better. So read it, and you'll won't regret it, promise.