Animal Balloon Routine
by Mark Burgess

! begin (without having done anything with balloons) saying that I'm going to do some balloon modeling, then, strut about as if I'm on a catwalk for a few moments, till I get boo-ed off! hee hee!

Anyhow, I tell the people that I'm going to make a balloon parrot (will explain why the parrot as an aside at the end!) but to save time and effort, I'm just not going to bother blowing up the balloon. I proceed to go through the entire process of every twist needed for the parrot (it's very fiddly, so play on it!), then once it's done, I hold it up triumphantly to show that - oh no! - it collapses back into an unused modeling balloon. (Occasionally say - oh look, it magically turned into a worm!).

I decide that it's probably best that I actually blow the balloon up this time - usual gags can be put in here - depending on audience. 

Once it's blown up, I make this into the parrot and draw features onto it.

So what's the point in what's happened?

I'll tell you! - There are a few uses, I'll put both

In life we can try so often to do things for God, but we constantly slip up, fail, whatever. This is usually because although we have good intentions, we're not actually going with God on the job - not asking for His blessing and guiding, etc. Explain that when we're like this, it's a bit like the balloon without the air in it - useless. When we ask God to fill us, He will - with His Holy Spirit. You can see the change, as the balloon changes from flimsy, to something that can be changed and used - used for what it is meant for - and more than that, can be turned into something beautiful/amazing, whatever.

This can be used to talk about: Holy Spirit, God's leading/guiding, the issue of worthlesness - God changing you into something beautiful, no matter how useless you think you are - God knows the potential - you just have to accept His offer. And many more - same basic running as I put above. I'm using this as an illustration at a churches together Pentecost service here in Caerphilly soon, actually.

So anyway, the parrot... It's strange how God works, I usually did a sausage dog (short neck, long body), or giraffe (long next, short body!), but one day when doing this for a small group of adults at a morning worship time thing, I just felt that I would do a parrot - no real reason at all. Afterwards, someone came up to me and explained how it was really amazing the fact that I'd used a parrot and how it had touched him, and God had spoken to him clearly through it. Next time I did this, I used a parrot again, mainly coz it looks nicer than a dog or giraffe - same thing happened, but different person. So It's just stuck, not coz I think that God will always use a parrot, but more as a reminder to me that little things and inspirations are just as important as the big things - God uses everything He will for His glory. That said, I must also remember to be open to changing the animal.