A Precious Moment...

"Teacher, I have a cookie in the box for just You!" :)

Pretending

Maura, this one's for you. --an episode from our childhood. : )


Once upon a time, three young girls walked along a wooded path, pretending. They walked quickly, for they were imagining that they were sisters, on the run from the wicked schoolteacher and his wife, who had persuaded the orphanage they had been left at a month before to give them custody of the three young girls, who were orphaned when their parents died tragically, --though none of the girls had decided yet what the cause of their tragic fate had been. The schoolteacher and his wife only wanted the girls because they had inherited a large mansion, and lots of money, so of course the poor sisters were sadly mistreated, forced to be servants to the terrible couple, until that fateful morning.

They had escaped the house early, before anyone was up, taking with them a small bag of provisions, which they had snatched from the kitchen on their way out of the house. As they walked, they discussed what they were to do, now that they had escaped from their dreadful guardians. The oldest, Rose, led the way through the forest, looking for some shelter where they could hide. All sorts of dangers lurked in the shadows of the forest, and it was as the girls were discussing which of those dangers they were to encounter on their journey, when something unexpected happened.

Rose was forging bravely ahead, saying, “Be careful, girls, and make sure you keep close. There are bears in these woods,” when, all of a sudden, with a great and terrifying roar, something came crashing through the woods towards them! The three young girls, being young girls, screamed loudly and ran as fast as they could. One fell over, and as the others stopped to help her up, they looked up and saw what it was that had been chasing them.

Shocked out of character, and rather upset, the three girls turned, and saw the familiar friendly face of the man they had taken for a bear, who looked somewhat embarrassed and very amused. He explained that he had thought they were trespassers, and decided to teach them a lesson by scaring them.

~And so ended the saga of the three sister’s daring and dangerous escape.

Day 5...

Today was the final day of NBT. The teachers all looked tired this morning, especially the evangelists, but all were smiling and energetic by the time their classes began lining up. Somehow, the law of entropy did not apply to me this week. Instead of becoming more and more tired with each passing day, I ended up with more and more energy each day. (Probably due to the fact that so many people had been praying that all the NBT workers would have strength and energy.)

30 in attendance again this morning, and once again, some were absent, but we had enough visitors to balance it out.

Tonight we had the final program, and only about half our class showed up. It was great to see the kids that did show up recieve awards and cheer the other classes on. I sat at one end of the third grade row, by some of the boys. They were a bit wiggly toward the middle of the program, but for the most part, once I told them to be still, they were. (Though I think it was partly due to the fact that they were so tired that they didn't want to move anymore.) : )

In all, it was a great week, even though I did have to go outside of my comfort zone quite a few times. --I suppose that's partly what made it a great week, just seeing the things that God was doing in my heart and life as well as in the hearts and lives of many boosters and teens.

Day 4...

Two more boosters from our class got saved today!

During line-up time, all the little ones from the neigboring classes wanted to show off their ribbons and tell me their plans to get more. -The kids have really warmed up to all the teachers...I even had a random little girl from another class give me a hug today for absolutely no reason! : )

We had 30 kids in our class again! One was absent, but we had a visitor. One of the Junior classes is trying to double their first day's attendance because if they do, their teacher volunteered his helper to take a pie in the face. (If I remember right from last year, it's a pie tin with shaving cream in it.) Miss Kathie told me that she thought that was a good idea, but thankfully for me, she was only joking. : )

Sadly, tomorrow is our last day. In the evening we will have the final program, in which the boosters show off the things they have learned and get their awards.

Day 3...

Another amazing day today! We had 30 boosters in our class, and even the boosters who like to squeak by with the minimum of effort are getting excited about bringing visitors and earning ribbons.

The boosters earn ribbons by memorizing verses, bringing visitors, doing their study in the handbook, and attending. Nearly everyone in our class has passed us teachers by with their number of ribbons. (we each have six ribbons on our name tags, and, of course, can't earn more like the boosters.) I think the highest number of ribbons so far in our group is 12.

At least two more students from our class got saved today! It always amazes me how quickly the boosters understand the gospel and respond to it. There is no hesitating to count the cost, no delaying out of pride, just a simple childlike faith.

During one of the line up times today, I was standing by my class, when I heard my name...sort of. I realized that one of my boosters was trying to get my attention, but was calling me "Mrs. Gwennie". It's so hard for little ones to remember whether a lady is Miss or Mrs., so I didn't correct him just then --at least he was trying. : )

My class is very well trained by now --so well trained, in fact, that when I came to the end of the missionary story today, the boosters wouldn't let me build up suspense as I had planned to. Instead, as soon as I said, "and you know what happened then?" they all replied, "Come back tomorrow to find out!" : )

Day 2...

Today was a great day at NBT! (see previous post if you're not sure what that is) We had 27 kids in our class, 17 of which did not attend our church. Our group averaged about 2 memory verses each, but almost every booster has great plans for tomorrow. : ) So far, six of the boosters in our class have prayed to accept Christ as Savior!

I must admit to not being as prepared as I could have been for the missionary story today, and there were several suspenseful pauses beginning with "and then..." while I found my place. (Suspenseful to the boosters and to me, since I had completely lost my place!)

The very best part of the day, however, was during the Primary rally, when I had the privelege of leading a former Sunday school student of mine to Christ! God truly is doing great and exciting things in our midst this week!

Come back tomorrow to find out what happens next!

It's Bible Time!

This week I am helping with Neighborhood Bible Time at my church. For those of you who don't know what NBT is, it's kind of like a hyper vacation Bible school. : ) This year I get to help teach the 3d grade class, which had 23 boosters (kids) today! Thankfully, we had very few discipline issues to deal with, thanks to my "teacher 1" Miss Lowry and her exemplary classroom skills. : ) By the time she had finished the Bible story and memory verse, they sat so still and were so quiet while I told the missionary story, we had a very difficult time deciding who to give the two "quiet booster" prizes to.

Two of our boys accepted Christ as Savior today! (actually, it might be three, but I never heard the outcome of the third one's conversation with the counselor.) I had the privelege of counseling one of the boys, which was my very first time ever to lead someone to the Lord! It was a great blessing to me, and I'm looking forward to seeing how God will work in our class and others the rest of the week!

I plan to write more as the week goes on...so, in NBT language, "Come back tomorrow to find out what happens next!" : )

Immediate Obedience

I recently started teaching a Sunday school class at my church. Each week I get to teach ten to thirteen precious 4&5 year olds who are very well behaved. (At least, they are well behaved so far.) I have only been teaching for a few weeks, and I know that the novelty of having a new teacher will wear off any week now, and soon my little students will tire of trying to please me, making my task much harder.

My novelty is beginning to wear off already, but fear not! I have a plan. : ) I have endeavored to run a very tight ship while I have willing spirits to work with, and have tried not to let even small discipline issues go unaddressed. Once children (and adults, for that matter) know what is expected of them, it is much easier to discern whether a matter is an issue is one of rebellion or ignorance.

The hardest principle for these little ones, however, is a relatively simple one: immediate obedience. This is a very hard, but crucial principle for anyone to learn. As one preacher put it, “Temporary disobedience is total disobedience.” In other words, to delay is to disobey. If my students won’t respond the first time they are told to do something, my classroom will be a scene of chaos. Thankfully, of all the students, only a few have had to be told anything twice, but it is with increasing frequency.

In re-analyzing the students and my teaching methods, it occurred to me that this is an area that is difficult for me, as well. It’s not so much that I don’t do what I am told, but it is a struggle sometimes to obey immediately when I am asked or when it is implied that I should do something. I am asked to do things at my house more than I am than told to do things, so this is a bigger struggle than you might think. Technically, I could use the excuse that, having been asked, rather than told, I have a choice whether or not to obey and when, but since I know that when my parents say “would you”, they really mean “do it”, I have no excuse. -I know better.

Perhaps the Lord put me in charge of this particular class so that I would be reminded of my need to keep striving in this area!

Never Too Big...

Yesterday, we went to my sister’s house for our Christmas visit with her family. I always have a delightful time with my nephew and nieces, and yesterday was no exception. My younger niece amazed us all with her newfound ambulatory abilities, while my older niece flitted from one activity to the next, chattering all the while. She is a very good hostess, and very kindly shared her “cheese-string” and “dumgrops” (aka string cheese and gumdrops) with us. : )

At one point, my nephew, who is now seven years old, went over to where his Granddad was standing and asked to be lifted up. Granddad halfheartedly protested, and my sister told my pleading nephew that he was getting too big for Granddad to lift. My nephew then exclaimed, “I’ll never be too big for Granddad!” whereupon Granddad did pick him up, after all. : )

Now, as my nephew grows up, there will be a time when he is too heavy for his Granddad, but right now that seems inconceivable to him. His confidence in his Granddad is seemingly boundless, and in his eyes Granddad can do anything.

What a good reminder of what faith in God is to look like lived out! Our faith is supposed to be like the simple confidence of a child. There will never be a time when we find that our burdens are too heavy for God, and when others doubt that God can do what we ask of Him, we can respond similarly, “There won’t ever be anything too big for God!”