Games

"She looketh well to the ways of her household..." Prov.31:27

What does your family do to bring its members closer together? What do you do? Do you make an effort to reach out and let your family members know that you love them?What does your family do for good wholesome fun?

Welcome to Family Fridays!

What could be a simpler, cheaper, way to have fun than to play games as a family? Today my family is 'specially racking our brains for all the games we know. A missionary friend has asked us to think of games that are appealing to teen-age boys. She and her husband are trying to reach a group of young men who have been raised in orphanages, but are now old enough to be on their own, and have nowhere to go, and no knowledge of Christ.

So, our friends hope to encourage these young men to come "have fun," with them, and then have an open door to share the gospel.

The question is, what games do we Americans know that will be fun for teen-age boys, and are able to be played in any country, and any language? The language barrier throws several games out right away. ...But there are plenty left...

My family has always enjoyed both the loud fast-paced games, like "pit," "squabble," "Egyptian war," "spoons," "freeze-tag," "blindman's bluff," and the slower games, like "chess," "checkers," "Risk," and "Scrabble." Games that can include a lot of players are always the most fun.

A favorite activity in the summer, for all of us, is playing freeze-tag or hide and seek in the back yard. Twilight is great. And Dad and Mom are the two most-chased people. 'Specially Dad.

"SPUD." What a name for a game. Ever played this one? Every person is numbered, and they stand in a circle around the "it" person. "It" throws the ball in the air, while calling out a number. Everyone scatters, trying to get as far away as possible....except for the person whose number has been called. He dives for the ball, and as soon as he has it, yells "SPUD!" Everyone freezes, and the catcher, who is now "It," takes four huge steps towards any player of his choice. If he can throw the ball and hit the person, that player is now "It," and must throw the ball in the air with everyone gathered around him. If he catches the ball in his hands, instead of being hit when "It" tries to tag him, "It" must throw the ball in the air and call out a number, just like at the beginning. The object of the game is to avoid having to throw the ball. If you throw it a certain number of times, you are "out." Another way to play is to count the "It" person as "out" if he misses when trying to hit the player of his choice.

Then there's the quieter games...only our games never seem to be very quiet. Even "chess," studious, mind-bending game that it is, can gather a crowd of family members, all cheering and advising as they see fit.

But games are like that. They get people excited. Of course, having a contest implies having a winner, and having a winner implies having a loser. That means that we all have to learn lessons about having good attitudes. I've seen siblings be testy with each other for a few hours after a game, but we always become good friends again before the day is over.

As my older sister says "With just 'friends' you can argue and loose your friendship - but with siblings, you stay best friends because you can't get away from one another! You have to forgive and be forgiven - you're stuck with each other."

So life goes on, learning lessons, playing hard, working hard, loving harder.