Mr. Dozat’s insight for this issue of BIBLE TIME FUN!
I am full of joy to be blessed to share this issue with you.
I know that I am done with each week’s issue by listening to my own prayers. I start out asking for God’s blessing on the work and for Him to bless those using this tool in their children’s ministry. I pray for inspiration or leading from God to know what scriptures to use and what puzzles to create. As I work on the actual bulletin, I ask God for help with different art problems, layouts, and words. I find myself praying for time to work on it. I find myself confessing resentment for interruptions and anger at those who wrote software that I don’t understand and computers that do the unexpected. I confess anger over pencils that tear the paper, markers that go dry, and tracing paper that slips. But after a few days, I start to hear myself pray words of thanksgiving. I find myself praying thanks for ideas and software that did work after all. I pray thanks for how things look, how the puzzles work, and how it is coming together. I hear myself pray thanksgiving to God that He lets me do something crazy like this for Him.
I am delighted with the “Hidden Letter Puzzle,” It was a lot of work. I did have a problem — I began to feel a nagging that some letters were not the right size, but I had started and was well into it, so I thought it would be ok but not great. Then after spending two hours creating each letter in a text box and pasting it into the image, I was moving from one screen to another and forgot to save it! My work was lost! I wondered if I should leave it out. Still, I remember as a child the satisfaction I felt when finding an item in a hidden picture puzzle, so I started over. You know what, I think the second version is far superior to the first since I was able to make the foundational changes at the beginning. Now, it is one of my favorite elements in this issue. I hope you enjoy it!
The word search puzzles took all my brainpower! I kept trying to squeeze in another word from the verses. They went through several versions, each requiring changes, printing, and testing the puzzle. But I would see a place where just a letter or two would combine with others to make a word, so I kept redoing them. But they turned out great!
For the codebreaker puzzle, I used domino icons instead of letters. When I tested it, I thought, “This is a little too hard,” and considered changing it or giving more clues. This puzzle might be good for an adult and child to do together. I ended up including the entire code key, so it is more of a Bible translation puzzle than a code breaker.
I hope the discussion questions are giving you opportunities to talk about spiritual things. I try to keep them open-ended and even a little vague on purpose. I pray that you have life-changing conversations with the children because of these.
I think this issue has many great scriptures and anyone using it will encounter God’s Word.
This issue has a variety of themes and topics.
- The first coloring picture uses Matthew 6:26-27, “Look at the birds….”
- The shape sort puzzle uses Matthew 5:11-12, one of the blessings of the Sermon on the Mount.
- The code-beaker puzzle (it may be a bit challenging) uses Psalm 63:3-4.
- The crossword uses Romans 8:15, a verse about the gift of the Spirit.
- The Explorer’s Challenge (Mini Bible Study) uses John 14:27, Jesus’ words of peace.
- The scrambler uses Acts 16:31, a verse we often quote when sharing the gospel.
- Another coloring picture uses John 8:12, where Jesus teaches that he is the light of the world.
- Another word search uses Philippians 2:3-4, a favorite verse about putting others first.
- The maze uses Matthew 5:14, the “city on the hill verse.”
- The drop word puzzle uses Matthew 12:30; he who is not with me is against me. (It is one of those hard sayings of Jesus that we like to avoid, but we still need to be faithfully teaching.)
- The memory verse craft uses Matthew 4:19.
- The hidden letter puzzle uses Romans 6:23; it is one of those essential scriptures to share the gospel.
- A short devotional called “Lines from the Artist” was inspired by Matthew 6:26-27.
I hope you have fun with these puzzles and activities. I pray that God’s Word will not return void but accomplish what he intends.
Photo by Alan Rodriguez on Unsplash.