Urswick Holiday Club Day 5

Day 5 at holiday club is always a little sad as it is the last day, however as soon as the children arrive and we get started the sadness goes away and is replaced by joy as we see the children having so much fun and enjoyment.  Today we find out the winning team as well as the team with the best pod which this year was a rocket.  The day as always ends with a picnic and water fight (which I declined to do this year - first time ever).  Before all that though we heard the final part of the story which is perhaps what Daniel is remembered most for - the lions den story.  So I we got transported back through time and space to Ancient Babylon we heard from Hegai who was feeding the kings lions about what happened when Daniel spent the night in their den.  We heard about the tricks some of Daniels enemies played on him and trick the king into making a new law.  Then the sadness of Daniel being found out and ending in the den was replaced by gladness as he came out unharmed the next morning.  Then we heard how the king made his own new law and that was that everyone in the whole of the kingdom was to respect the God of Daniel, as he is a mighty and powerful God that is able to save people like Daniel.

Urswick Holiday Club Day 4

Well what can I say - as I set off this morning from Swarthmoor the rain was pouring down and as I drove through the lanes that had already started to flood I thought -games.... inside today.  But God blessed us with fine weather just in time for the games to take place.  We have a great big God don't we and he looks after us all.  This has been the underlining theme throughout the week.  Daniel along with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego all knew that they served a great big God who was and is able to do far more than we can ever imagine.  The story today saw King Nebuchadnezzar's son Belshazzar as king of Babylon and during a party decided to use the special items taken from God's temple in Jerusalem by his father and drink from them while paying honour to other gods.  Until that is a human hand wrote on the wall Mene Mene Tekel Parsin which no-one except Daniel could translate.  It was the notice to the king that his reign was going to end and that very night it did and King Darius of the Medes took control.  Tomorrow our final day we will hear the story that perhaps Daniel is most remembered for - the lions den.

Urswick Holiday Club Day3

We have had another great morning at Holiday Club.  The children have got into the swing of things and we get a sense that they are really having a great time.  The children are paying attention to the story so much so that later on in the morning's programme when Gary comes along they are able to answer loads of the questions that are asked.  The drama is going well too and is building to a big finish on the last day.  Time during the reflection part of the morning has been good as well, the children have been given an opportunity to ask as well as have questions answered.  Our hope is that the children will continue to come along each day and that they will talk about what they did this week in the future.

Urswick Holiday Club Day 2

Had another fab day at Urswick Holiday Club today.  The children had a great time too!  They heard the story of the dream from Daniel 2 which had kept King Nebuchadnezzar awake.  Daniel was able to not only tell the king what the dream was but also what it's meaning was.  He spent the night in pray along with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and at dawn God told him the meaning of the dream.  Tomorrow we will hear about the fiery furnace.  Also tomorrow is Universe Day when the children have been encouraged to come with a hat or face made up to show something in the universe - should be interesting.   

Urswick Holiday Club Day 1

This morning we lifted off into action at Low Furness School at the start of Urswick Holiday Club.  I say lifted off we did in a kind of way as we are doing Space Academy, so following the countdown we blasted off from Urswick into space (we came back in time for lunch).  The theme is space however the stories are from Daniel - I know thousands of years before space travel - what's the link I hear you cry.  Well as strange as it would be for us to go into outer space and see, hear and experience new things it was the same for Daniel and his friends as they were taken from Jerusalem into exile in Babylon.  The children listened to Hegai on the 3D HD Multimedia time travel device as he recalled the early days in Babylon of Daniel and company.