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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: STEW (11/26/15)
One Saturday my youth group and I spent the day making stew. We started the day by exiting our cardboard boxes that we slept in. Boxes that were on the front lawn of our church, boxes that sheltered us from a snowy February night.

After a short morning devotional we walked up the block to the local grocery store. There we bought potatoes and carrots. We gather fresh peas and corn. We grabbed and onion and a garlic bulb. We also grabbed a couple packages of cubed stew meat, some spices and six loaves of bread. We then headed back to the church and got busy.

I told them it was time for the world to come together and work together as one and start spreading some love around. I divided them into groups. Each group was a different country. First we had to wash everything. To cleanse and baptize all the parts into their new Christian family.

I had peelers, pea pod poppers, corn scrapers and choppers. Every five minutes they would have to switch places so they knew what it was like to be from another country. The stew gravy was boiling and well seasoned. The beef cubes were almost browned to perfection and harmonizing with the onions.

It really smells good in the church kitchen right now and the kids are starting to drool. They’re drooling because they haven’t eaten anything for about twenty hours. I am making them prepare and cook stew during our World Visions 30 Hour Famine weekend.

I explain to them that even though we are all different it’s easy to come together and produce something wonderful. As they take turns stirring the pot I asked them what kind of changes that they want to see in the world and how they could make them happen.

The scripture for the day was, Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. – John 6:35NIV.

After the stew was done we sliced all the bread and then set up some tables in front of the church. We then took the stew and shared it with the community. We also shared why we are doing this; to make others aware of world hunger. We made some new friends and received a few donations too.

It is very easy to do something nice or helpful for others when everything is fine. But when you’re hungry and you give your food away to someone that puts a little twist on it.

Sleeping in the snow in a box like many do and feeding someone when you’re hungry makes you rethink things. I pray that after this weekend these kids have stronger souls. That their hearts got a little bigger to hold more. And that they see themselves and the world in a different light.

I also pray that they forget about their comfort zones and jump in with both feet, and even though they couldn’t taste the stew that they taste life. Along with everything the world has to offer and the people that they cross paths with.

I told them that they may feel like their backs are against the wall, but that every one of them no matter how great or small can make a change in the world.
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This article has been read 404 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
C D Swanson 
12/04/15
Excellent and timely reminder along with a powerful message.

Well done.

God bless~
Donna Powers
12/04/15
That must have been an excellent lesson about cultural diversity and about breaking down barriers. I enjoyed this story
Bonnie Bowden 
12/05/15
What a wonderful idea for teaching children how hard it is to be homeless, cold, and hungry.

I noticed that you switched from the past tense to the present tense several times throughout the story.
Brenda Rice
12/06/15
Your are a great youth leader. What a powerful lesson and so well taught. Well written. Thanks.
Jan Ackerson
12/08/15
I enjoyed this--it was a good object lesson for the teens, and you wrote with good pacing and obvious heart.

A few tiny missteps--in the second paragraph, for example, you used 'and' for 'an' and you slipped into present tense (we gather...) when the rest of the piece is in past tense.

So your writing is quite good, but I think this could be kicked up a notch. Instead of narrating what you explained to the teens, write it as a conversation with them--telling what you said, and then relating their reactions along with what they said. Something like this:

"Hey guys--you know we have to wash all this stuff, right?"

Jake grumbled as he dumped three pounds of potatoes into the sink. "I don't see why. It's all going to cook out, anyway." He flicked a dishtowel at Melanie, who deftly dodged the attack.

"Well, it's like baptism..."

You get the idea, although I'm sure the actual conversation was different. Use dialogue techniques--realistic speech, action tags, that sort of thing. Readers are drawn to dialogue, and it paints an even more realistic picture of your object lesson.
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
12/09/15
This sounds like a great exercise for youth groups and I think most adults could benefit from an experience like this. Be careful to be consistent with your tenses. I noticed you slipped from past to present and back again. I think your story was creative, right on topic, and a great message.
Loni Bowden-Horn 
12/11/15
John, What a great exercise for your teens to experience. I can't image living in the cold for a long time.