Joshua’s House

Click here for Printable PDF version.

Do you ever find that after coming home from church, the rest of the day seems to slip by?  You may have good fellowship, but how often do you and your family continue to connect with God after your morning meetings at church? Here is an idea to help Sabbath become a special day for your family to connect with God all day long.

Set aside some extra time this Sabbath to make some Sabbath plans for the future.  Pull everyone together and find out what some of your favorite Sabbath afternoon activities are.  Then, come up with some new activities as well. (You can use this worksheet to keep track of your ideas.) Make a list so you don’t forget your ideas.  You may even want to get a few paper bags ready with materials you may need to make your Sabbath afternoon activity happen without any other preparation ahead of time. (The bags could come in handy for those Sabbaths that creep up on you without giving you any prep time, or that rainy afternoon that you’d planned to go for a hike.) For example, if you want to make cards one afternoon, you can fill a paper bag with paper, glue, scissors, envelopes, stamps or anything else you may need to make and send greeting cards.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Make cards and take them to people at the nursing home
• Go for a hike and sing hymns along the way.  Have each person come back with one item that reminds them of God’s love – have them explain how.
• Pick some fun mission stories, nature books or Christian biographies (maybe even some audio programs like Your Story Hour or Down Gilead Land).  Reserve these items for Sabbath only and set aside some time to read/listen to them.
• Have a special Sabbath meal.
• Play Bible trivia games and take it one step farther by challenging each other to apply the lessons learned to their own life.
• Pray together.
• Work together to rewrite and make a picture book of a Bible story.
• Write letters to missionaries or people you’ve noticed this week who may need a little encouragement.
• Go for a prayer walk, praying for each house/person you pass on your walk.