Have you ever played on a WII? For those who may not know, WII is an interactive video game that hooks up to your television. It's pronounced WHEEEE and probably should be called that because it's a lot of fun to play. It's also pretty good exercise. I'm told that many nursing homes have it as a means of exercise for their residents. No, we haven't broken down and bought one yet but our younger son's family has one and brought it with them for a visit.

We hooked it up to the TV and began playing games like boxing, tennis, baseball and others. Even the grandchildren 9, 7, and 6 were able to play. My personal favorite may have been bowling. You couldn't make a strike unless you found that 'sweet spot'. At least that's what I thought before I watched the 7 year old play it.

He was so excited when it was his time to bowl. It was then I discovered that these games may impose unexpected hazards to the well-being of anyone who dared to be the opponent of my grandson. Yes, we soon learned not to stand too close unless we wanted to be 'wii whacked'. This is how his 'wii whack' worked. He would find his place and then began to jump with arms flailing and body twisting every direction. Though possibly dangerous, he looked so cute and with that kind of movement there seemed to be no way to miss the 'sweet spot'. He was actually hard to beat.

I am not a bowler so when the strikes and spares eluded me I resorted to the method used by our grandson. To my chagrin, the only thing I accomplished was looking ridiculous. But I did that very well.

Now let's fast forward a bit to an actual bowling trip. We took the Youth Department out for Pizza and Bowling. This time there was no television and no screen for virtual bowling. This time there was only a bowling alley, bowling pins, bowling balls, teens and adults. Hmm, sounds pretty dangerous in itself, doesn't it?

I have to say watching the teens bowl was almost more fun than actually bowling. None of us were very good at this but the teens were so creative. I watched them take turns bowling in almost every possible manner. From 'granny' bowling, (walking up to the line and bending over holding the ball with both hands and rolling it down the alley) to bowling with their less dominate hand, (righties bowl with left hand and visa versa). All in all their scores were not changed too much but the fun was definitely heightened.

Now you may want to know what spiritual lesson I could possibly have learned from participating in these two bowling activities. Well, it seems the WII bowling with my grandson taught pretty much the same message as watching the teens 'experimental' bowling. You see, I now have even more proof that many methods can produce the same effect.

Please don't misunderstand what I am saying. The Bible leaves no question about Jesus being our ONLY method of salvation. We are told in John 14:6 that Jesus is not just A Way, He is THE Way. The Acts 4:12 reference to Jesus says, 'Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."'

However, there are countless methods of bringing someone to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we need to be a little creative because it doesn't matter how much Word we have if no one is listening. We wouldn't even consider the same method of teaching a young child as being appropriate for an adult, would we? Well, most wouldn't. I must admit I actually conducted an entire Children's Church service for the adult sanctuary once. But that's a different story for another time.

The important thing in the variance of ministry methods is that the message doesn't change. We CANNOT compromise the Word of God under any circumstance. Charles Swindoll said it very well in one of his sermons on the Principles Of Ministry. It was simply put in the form of poetry.

It said:
There are many methods
Principles are few
Methods often change
Principles never do

He also listed a few things we must remember in every method of ministry. The message should have character. It should be a service. The motive of the ministry should be love. It should give God the Glory. The tools of every method should be prayer and the Bible.

There were a few others on his list but I would like to skip to the last one which states that Jesus should be the model of every ministry.

I suppose in some ways this article proves my point of varying methods. Who would have ever thought you could learn a spiritual lesson from 'WEIRD BOWLING'?