Hotshots: Facing Challenges

more by Jason Gardner | Youth

Title: Facing Challenges

Preparation:

Two cleaned out Yoghurt cartons into which set a nice flavoured jelly. Two bamboo sticks of equal length – at least 1.5 metres. Attach a teaspoon to the end of each  - gaffa tape is the easiest method. Create a gaffa tape handle of about a hands width at the opposite end from the spoons.

Activity:

Challenge two individuals to eat the jelly from the yoghurt pots using the ‘extended’ teaspoons. They’re not allowed to move their hands down from the ‘handle’ area of the bamboo either. They might suss this out straightaway but if not inform them that the best way to eat the jelly is if they ‘serve’ each other – i.e. one holding the pot while the other dishes the jelly out to them.

Talk:

Now I know that you’re thinking that you know what the point to that little challenge was. That sometimes in life we just can’t do it on our own, two heads are better than one, there’s no ‘I’ in team work. And all of those are true, they’re all lessons worth learning – if we’re going to make it in life we often have to seek out other people to help us through.

But the other main point of trying to eat jelly with overly long spoons is that facing and overcoming a challenge is always worth it. In this case it was worth getting the jelly or worth learning that sometimes the best way of overcoming a challenge is through getting help.

We face many challenges in life often day by day.

It might be something basic like the challenge of getting up in a morning, or the challenge of switching off the Playstation and getting on with your homework.
Or the challenge of spending your Saturdays hunting through record shops so you can become a better DJ. The challenge of learning a new language.

There are benefits to overcoming all those, being able to speak a new language means you’ll be able to find your way around in a foreign city. Finding the right records might get you a gig as a superstar DJ. Doing your homework may help you achieve the grades you want which may mean you get the job you want.

And getting up in the morning well, unless you’ve got a personal slave who’ll bring you breakfast in bed every day chances are you’ll starve otherwise.

You see overcoming challenges helps us grow.

Talk:

Did you know that before a caterpillar can become a butterfly it has to enter a cocoon phase. A cocoon is like a sealed protective casing that helps it change shape from a wriggly creepy thing to a beautiful butterfly. Cocoons generally hang on trees and bushes and when the butterfly has changed it has to struggle to escape the cocoon. Now you could take a knife and cut open the cocoon to help it escape but if you did the butterfly would never be able to fly and it would die. You see it’s the struggle of escaping from the cocoon that forces vital fluids into the Butterfly’s wings enabling it flutter off.

The chances are if you don’t face a challenge you won’t grow in life, you won’t be able to ‘stretch your wings’ like a Butterfly.

You might think life will give you all you need without a struggle. You might think you’ll win the lottery or Simon Cowell might pick you out for X Factor, you could be waiting a long time.

So next time a challenge comes your way face it head on because it’s nearly always worth the struggle.

Further Illustration:

Christian Perspective:

Matthew 13:45 – The pearl of great price. This wasn’t an easy purchase for the merchant, selling everything he had would have taken a great deal of effort but the challenge was worth it to obtain something better.

Film Clip:

Spider-Man 2         1Hr 33 Min 10 Secs to 1:35.55

Spider-man has to overcome the challenge of trying to stop a train that has no brakes.