Gensis 18 Is Any Thing Too Hard for the Lord?

Genesis 18
My students enjoyed acting out (see photos below) the account of  the 3 visitors to Abraham's tent, Sarah learning that she would have a son named, Isaac, and Abraham pleading with the Lord to save any righteous people in Sodom.

Props:
We made doors for Abraham's tent, enjoyed bread, and milk, and "dressed" a calf for the meal shared with the 3 visitors.

I find that these activities create great discussion and help the students relate and internalize the messages being taught. For example, why did Sarah stay in the tent? How were women viewed in the OT times and culture?

Here was our best discussion  point and where I planned to spend the most time:

Genesis 17: 14
"Is  any thing too hard for the Lord?" 
I asked them:
1) How do we make it hard for the Lord to bless us?
2) How can we make it easier for the Lord to bless us?

I made sure that they understood still that the Lord has His own timing and, just like Abraham and Sarah, we must continue to keep our covenants and stay close to the Lord even when we don't experience an immediate blessing.

Again..GREAT discussion with these questions.
Visual Examples + Great Questions + Great Discussion=
The doctrines and principles enter our students' minds and stay in their hearts.

I have a feeling we are going to enjoy using this roll of paper for many more lessons this year.
These are the doors to Abraham's tent in progress and then ready to function.

This is the calf the young herdsman boy was instructed to "dress" for the meal of bread, milk, and meat Abraham served his 3 visitors.

Genesis 15- The Abrahamic Covenant

Genesis 15:9-21 The Abrahamic Covenant

In verses 9-10, the Lord instructed Abram to bring a heifer or 3 years old, a she-goat of 3 years old, a ram of 3 years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
The heifer, she-goat, and ram were divided and each piece was placed one against another.
The birds were not divided and when they flew down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

I had a student draw these animals on a large  sheet of paper and had two students for each animal come up to the front of the classroom and hold the drawings. As soon as they were all up front, I took scissors and cut the picture (animal) in half. Then we went out in to the hallway and I taped the halves of each animal on opposites of the hall.

Once the pictures were taped up, I had them walk between the carcass pieces as if they were Abram. In ancient times, the person passing between the carcasses was essentially sayng, "May I also be cut in two if I do not keep my part of the covenant?"

Our classroom has 2 doors so I had my students exit one door, we taped up the pictures, they walked between them, and entered the other door. Upon returning to class, I asked them to read Genesis 15:9-21 and we discussed the symbolism of this as it relates to the Abrahamic Covenant.