Have you ever thought about how often weather plays a part in Bible stories? Storms can frighten your kids. Snow days or beautiful, sunny, warm days may make them happy. The people in the Bible had all sorts of reactions to the weather they experienced, too. What happened during the various types of weather also taught them something important about God.
So, pick one of the Bible stories below you think your children need the most. Have fun learning about the story and doing some weather related activities. You will create memories and teach them something important about God.
Supplies: website for predicting weather using clouds, instructions and materials for making a rain gauge,
Procedure: Choose one of the following Bible stories and application principles to teach your kids:
- Elijah and the Drought. I Kings 17 and 18. God sent a severe drought to the land King Ahab ruled. He wanted Ahab to repent of his sins and acknowledge God as the one and only true God. Although the drought was severe, God cared for Elijah. The drought ended after a dramatic contest proving God is the real God and Baal was merely an idol of stone. God wants us to repent of our sins and make Him first in our lives. Although we may not worship wooden or stone idols like Baal, we can make other things more important than God in our lives. Those things can then become our idols.
- Jesus Walks on Water. Matthew 14:22-33. The Apostles were crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat. Suddenly they saw Jesus walking towards them on the water. They were amazed and not surprisingly, Peter wanted to try to walk on water, too. Jesus let him try, and Peter was successful for a bit. Then he took his eyes off Jesus and noticed the weather and choppy seas around him. Peter began to sink and had to be rescued by Jesus. Sometimes, it is easy to keep our eyes on Jesus when things are going well. Then when bad things happen, we can forget God is there and start to panic. Like Peter, we can begin to sink into a sea of gloom and fear. We need to always keep our eyes on Jesus.
- Paul’s Shipwreck. Acts 27:27 – 28:5. Paul was traveling on a ship. He was headed to Rome to be tried and eventually jailed and martyred. The ship encountered a horrible storm and broke apart. God was with them though and no one drowned. They had another adventure on shore when Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake. Once again God saved him. Bad things happen in life because we live in a fallen world. God doesn’t always stop those things from happening, but He is always with us as we go through them. We need to trust in His love for us.
Share the Bible story and application principles you chose with your kids. Talk about the different kinds of weather you get where you live. You may want to compare them to the weather people can get in other parts of the world. Talk about the feelings various types of weather can make us have. Take your kids outside and use the information to try and predict coming weather using the clouds. Make a rain gauge. Research the average rainfall for your area. Are you getting enough rain? If time allows, consider making other weather instruments and researching ways to stay safe in various types of weather. End by discussing the ways we can pray to God regularly to help us as we deal with the real weather around us and the “storms” of bad things that can happen in our lives.