David & Goliath: the slightly different version

Slingshot and mini slingshots...hmmm...wonder what's up for Kid's Klub today?!

And don't forget the armor!!

(Hunter was the tallest one there on Wednesday and was our "Goliath". I wish I had a video clip of the kids laughing as we put on all the armor....it was so funny! And of course, they all loved it. Goliath volunteers were abundant.)

Goliath was really big and tall and covered with armor to protect himself. Every morning and evening for 40 days he would show himself to the Israelite army and challenge someone to come and fight him. But all the soldiers were too scared when they saw this huge giant!

But when David visited his brothers fighting in the Israelite army, he saw this huge man and heard his challenge, calling for someone to fight. He asked the soldiers, "Why do you let this man defy the true and living God? If none of you will go out to fight him, then I will."

(Asking who is the shortest brought multiple volunteers as you can tell from the raised hands. After all, David was very young, especially compared to Goliath. To get the full picture of this story, David had to much shorter than Goliath, who at this point has grown a couple feet taller with the help of a chair.)

So King Saul heard of this and sent for David and dressed him in his strongest armor. But as David started walking around, he knew he could never wear this armor that was too large for him. He said, "God will be my protection. He will give me the victory over Goliath. I don't need all this armor."

So David took his slingshot that he used to protect the sheep and picked up 5 stones to use. God had helped him fight the bear and the lion who tried to kill the sheep and he knew that God would help him face Goliath.

(You see, you have to use your imagination here: the white foam balls are stones and the sack is the stream where David found the stones. Did I mention that a requirement for reading this is imagination?! Oh, and ignore the trashcan...that had nothing to do with our story.)

Giant Goliath laughed as he saw this boy come out to fight him with only a slingshot and some stones. ("Goliath" gave a sinister laugh and did an excellent job of it - wish I had an audio clip of that!!)

David took one of the stones and put it in his slingshot. He twirled it around and around......

(again, use your imagination....the slingshot this David had is a slightly different version from what the real David might have had.)

.......and around.......and around.........and around......

....and then aimed it at Goliath........and........

.......checked his aim again to be sure it was correct.......

........and........as the stone flew from the slingshot through the air..........

........and both the Philistine and Israelite armies held their breath, watching.........

........it flew right over Goliath's head. Um, yeah.

(Disclaimer: this is not what happened in the Biblical account of David. You see, he was much better with his aim. I had practiced this before class as I really wanted to be able to "hit" Goliath in the forehead (which I knew was practically impossible), so my goal was just connect the foam ball with his body. Oh, and you should have heard the kids laughing at this point....I'm sure you could hear them clear back in the church office, wayyyyy on the other side of the building. It was hysterical!! Wish I could have watched the kids more...I was too busy trying to correct David's aim for the second try.)

......and so David took another "stone" and twirled it around and around and around......

....and aimed it at Goliath......and all of a sudden let go......and.........

(btw, I love Felicity's eyes in this one - they're closed and ready for the "stone" to fly. And Josselyn in the background - hand covering her mouth, anticipating.)

..........and as David let the slingshot loose, the stone whirled through the air and.......

......and both armies watched carefully as the stone started moving toward Goliath.......

.....and suddenly.......

......it again, flew over Goliath's head.

(And to read this part of the story, just back up to where David aims and tries to hit Goliath and reread that part about 5 more times, then you'll be caught back up. Detailing how many times David aimed and missed Goliath seems totally pointless. All I kept saying as we missed over and over again is, "Remember that David was an expert at this since he watched over the sheep and killed the lion and the bear and hit Goliath with the first stone." Oh, and by now, you could hear the kids roaring with laughter out in the parking lot, I'm sure.)

And finally David resorted to drastic measures........

(Me: "Felicity, just throw the "stones" at him and try to hit him." Btw, this was NOT how I planned for this part of the story to go......)

Many stones later, Goliath still remained standing and as the kids were falling out of their chairs laughing......

I finally told Goliath, "Fall down, you've been hit!" (Remember: imagination required!)

Which Goliath did quite well.

And so after Goliath finally fell to the ground, David rushed over and took Goliath's sword and cut off his head. And so God allowed David to defeat Goliath with only stones and a slingshot. (A few extra stones were needed in our version.)

And that is the end of the story.

So what did we use the mini slingshot for as first pictured? Our David characters, of course! :)