Desolations, Abominations, and Starbursts

It's hard to be Mr. Cool when yo Mama teaches yo Sunday School class.  Last week I cussed him out for eating candy in front of everyone (How rude, son!), confiscated the candy, and then ate it in front of everyone.  The lesson was about hypocrisy.  It went over really well, especially after I explained that it was a set-up object lesson.  (Then I shared the candy with everyone--that went over REALLY well.) 

My personal philosophy is that the Gospel is delicious, so is food.  I try to use both in my lessons.

Today I taught about the destruction and scattering of the Jews, and also the prophesies of the second coming.  Tough subject.  Also, boooorrriiiinnggg.  (If you're 14 or 15, anyway.)

So I cut up the scripture references and some quotes, put the papers in a bag, and let the kids pass it around and draw some out.  "Dude, only take what you can handle."    Snort.  Suddenly they were eager-beavers.

Plus I had candy, and Cool's  played the game before, so before I could even start the discussion, he took a handful of papers and started volunteering to answer questions with his scripture references and quotes.  The kid's a natural leader.

I just played discussion moderator after that, and I threw a Starburst candy at anyone who made a comment, asked a question, or shared a scripture.  Occasionally I would ask a question, and that would set things off again.  Awesome!  I LOVE candy.  We had a real discussion and a nice snack.