ARMOR OF GOD PUPPET SKIT
Sergeant Cornbread: (enters loudly) Hup! Hup! Straighten up, soldiers! We’re blowing stuff up today! You’ll be given your weapon and you’re going to use it to demolish the enemy to smithereens. Now let me see your war faces!
Granny Grace: (enters quickly) Sergeant Cornbread! Stop that this instant! You can not and will not treat these children like they’re your troops from 1942! You’re scaring them. They will not be handling any weapons or blowing anything up!
Carlos: (enters excitedly) Who’s blowing stuff up? This sounds fun. I’m definitely glad I came to church today if we’re blowing stuff up!
Melody: (enters slightly frightened) Church is getting weird. I’m a little scared but at the same time I kind of want to see something get demolished.
Carlos: I know, right! I was feeling really sad before church, but blowing stuff up is definitely taking my mind off of things.
Granny Grace: Nobody will be blowing anything up!
Sergeant Cornbread: I beg your pardon, Granny Grace, but maybe we should be more concerned about Carlos and why he is sad.
Melody: Why have you been sad, Carlos? Do you want to talk about it?
Carlos: I really don’t like talking about it but maybe I should.
Granny Grace: We’ll listen and you can share as much or as little as you want.
Carlos: It’s kind of embarrassing and I feel ashamed.
Sergeant Cornbread: We won’t judge. We are here to love and support you, soldier.
Carlos: My mom and dad are getting a divorce. My dad left and they are always fighting now. It’s like they hate each other and I hate that because I love them both. I don’t get to see my dad much and I miss him. I just wish things could go back to the way they were.
Melody: Carlos, why would you feel ashamed or embarrassed about that? It’s not your fault they’re not together anymore.
Granny Grace: That’s right. It’s never a child’s or a teenager’s fault when parents split up.
Melody: Besides, you know me and you know I never even met my real dad and live with my mom and Grandma. There’s no reason for you to feel embarrassed or ashamed.
Sergeant Cornbread: Roger that! You’re still the same child of God. You’re going through a hard battle. You can’t control what anyone else does or what your parents do, but you can control how you act, think and feel.
Carlos: I can control how I feel? Because sometimes I feel really mad and angry going through this. This week at school, my teacher took points off my grade because I didn’t hand in my assignment on time. I did it but I forgot it at my mom’s house when I was staying with my dad. I’m still getting used to going back and forth and keeping all my things together. I feel like I’m going through so much already that she could have given me a break, but she didn’t seem to care at all and still lowered my grade.
Melody: What did you do?
Carlos: I told her that she was the meanest teacher ever and then I kicked her trash can. I got in trouble and that made me feel even worse.
Granny Grace: Oh, Carlos. I’m so sorry that you’re going through this. It’s hard, I know, but Sergeant Cornbread is right. We can’t control anyone else or all of the circumstances but we can control how we act, think and even feel.
Carlos: How? I understand that I can control how I act, but how do I control how I feel?
Sergeant Cornbread: We use our weapons of war!
Granny Grace: Sergeant Cornbread! I’m warning you!
Sergeant Cornbread: Trust me here. I’m talking about 2 Corinthians 10:4-5. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments & every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Granny Grace: I understand what you were doing now, Sergeant Cornbread and I owe you an apology. You were talking about the godly weapons God gives us to use every day to fight and win every battle.
Sergeant Cornbread: Affirmative! We’re not launching grenades, we’re not fighting with weapons of the world.
Carlos: When I called my teacher mean, that was kind of like a weapon of the world. I used unkind words and those hurt. I’m still a little confused on how to control how I feel though. It’s not like I’m going to be happy about my parents getting a divorce.
Melody: That would be weird to be happy about that.
Granny Grace: It’s normal to feel sad and to not like what has happened, but there are so many other things in life that you can be happy about. If we only focus on the sad things then we miss out on all the good stuff that brings us joy.
Melody: My Grandpa died and I still miss him, but I know I will see him again one day in heaven and that makes me happy. I also know he would want me to live my life and enjoy all the good stuff God has for me. It’s not the same as what you’re going through though. I’m sorry, Carlos.
Carlos: Thank you, but how do I control how I feel and what are the weapons you’re talking about?
Sergeant Cornbread: Now you’re speaking my language! The weapons God gives are all in the Bible. We fight with God’s word. Feeling sad about what happened is normal, but you have to accept it and move on from there and choose not to stay sad and let your sadness turn into feelings of fear or anger.
Granny Grace: Our feelings are fueled by our thoughts, so if you keep thinking about the bad thing that happened over and over again then you’ll get even sadder and maybe scared and even angry.
Sergeant Cornbread: What happens when you put fuel or gasoline on a fire? It grows and gets bigger! When we keep thinking about the same bad or sad thing over and over again then the sad feelings we have will get bigger and our fear, anger, worry and doubt will grow. The Bible says we have to take every thought captive. We catch the thoughts and we don’t let them run wild in our mind. We shoot them down with God’s word. The more Bible verses you learn, the more weapons you will have to fight with and the stronger and wiser you will be and the better you will become at controlling your thoughts and feelings.
Melody: The Bible says that God has a purpose and plan for your life and that God will never leave you or forsake you. You are never alone, God is always with you. God says that you are wonderfully made and that he has so many good things planned and prepared for you to do. God makes every day new for us and he wants us to rejoice and be glad. There is so much to be thankful for and to praise God for. The Bible also says that God will work ALL things out for your good. I still have a lot to learn, but learning my Bible verses helps me so much when I’m going through something hard.
Carlos: Wow! You’re right. God does say all of that in more. Instead of just constantly thinking about how horrible my situation is, I’m going to start focusing on the good things of God and being hopeful for my future because I know God does have a good plan and purpose for my life.
Sergeant Cornbread: That’s how we demolish everything that tries to get us to disobey God and that’s how we fight when times get hard and that’s how we stay in control of our thoughts and feelings.
Carlos: I’m going to control my thoughts and feelings and I’m not going to let my thoughts and feelings control me. I feel a lot better.
Granny Grace: That is so wise, Carlos. We control our thoughts and feelings and we don’t let them control us. Remember, it’s normal to feel sad about things, it’s part of being human, but we don’t let it control us.
Sergeant Cornbread: We fight! We go to war!
Melody: I’m glad I am able to take all my thoughts captive and make my thoughts and feelings obey God, but I sort of wish we got to see something get blown up.
Sergeant Cornbread: Oh, that can be arranged! I have this old grenade…
Granny Grace: Absolutely not! Let’s go! (exits)
Sergeant Cornbread: You heard her, come on, troops, let’s move out! (exits)
Melody: Awe. (exits)
Carlos: I’m going to demolish the enemy with God’s word! (exits)
