God wins the debate

In my last post I told you about how God used Miriam to rescue her little brother. But what happened to that little baby when he grew up? As we continue our our unit on Moses, we will piece together more and more of his story:

Once he was old enough, Moses went to live at the palace with the Pharaoh's daughter. One day he saw an Egyptian beating up a Hebrew slave & was so angry that he killed the Egyptian. He knew that he would be in BIG trouble so he ran away into the desert and became a shepherd in a country called Midian.

40 years later... Moses was looking after a flock of sheep when he saw a curious thing - a bush that was on fire but didn't burn up! When he went to investigate, God spoke to him (how cool is that?) and told him to go back to Egypt to tell the Pharaoh to let God's people (The Hebrews) go.

Moses wasn't too sure that God was talking to the right person (he was 80yrs old and not a very good public speaker) but in the end God won the debate (anyone surprised?) by telling Moses that God would be with him and would tell him what to say. So, Moses returned to Egypt.

This Sunday, we find out what happened when Moses returned and what God had in store for his people.

Here are some photos of what the desert in Egypt is really like.

Big sister to the rescue!

A couple of weeks ago, our Fireflies, Comets and Illuminators groups spent some time thinking and talking about how God can use anyone to help save people. In particular, we heard about how God used a young girl, her mother, and a princess to save a little baby boy who would grow up to become one of the most important people in the Bible.

The girl's name was Miriam. Her brother's name was Moses.

Here's how it happened:

1. The king of Egypt (Pharaoh) was worried that the Jewish slaves living in Egypt would one day become too powerful and take control of his kingdom.
2. Pharaoh ordered all of the Jews' baby boys to be thrown into the Nile River to be drowned.
3. A Jewish lady called, Jochebed, hid her baby boy until he was three months old.
4. Then she put him in a waterproof basket and put the basket in the water near the bank of the river.
5. Miraim hid in the reeds on the bank to keep watch over her little brother and make sure he was safe.
6. Pharaoh's daughter went to have a bath in the river and saw the baby in the basket.
7. The princess decided to adopt the baby and raise him as a prince of Egypt. She named him Moses because it means 'pull out (of water)'.
8. Miriam ran over to the princess and offered to find someone to look after the baby for the princess.
9. The princess paid Jochebed look after Moses until he was old enough to go and live in the palace with her.

Just think, if God can save a little baby from a powerful, angry king using his big sister - imagine what he can use us for!

This is what the Nile River looks like today...

Jochebed put Moses' basket in reeds like these ones...