rev-jane

jane and Deanna have been serving in the 4 year olds class at church on Saturday nights. this is a big deal, because jane is a 9 year old child, but she is serving children- and I think its super cool. so does she.

one night, my students were in small groups, and I was looking for some cookies from the ushers' closet, and I walked by the window of the 4 year olds class and saw jane in a rocking chair with a little boy, and she was reading him a story. so cool!

every Saturday night when I come home, I get a review of what happened in kids church (which jane attends) and from the 4 year old class. last Saturday, Deanna started telling me about 4 year old class when Jane interrupted and said, "Mom- I want to tell him!" I could tell this was going to be good.

from what I could tell, it was a very unique situation: there were 3 four year old boys, 2 mom-helpers (one of them was Deanna), and 1 kid helper, Jane. One boy melted down and had to leave- but his mom was the other mom helper besides Deanna. That left 2 boys, and Deanna and Jane to watch them. Deanna was about to start the bible lesson when a second boy was melting down. Deanna had to tell the childrens workers to call his mom, but that would mean that she had to step out for a second with the boy- which left Jane with the third boy. Deanna was only gone long enough to tell the workers to call his mom, but Jane insisted that she could tell the bible story to the third boy.

So she says to me, "Dad- I did the bible lesson tonight."
 "what?!" I asked-
"yup. I did it. I used the puppets and the stuffed animals and I told the little boy how God created all of the animals. he really liked how I used the stuffed animals to tell the story."

I was a little speechless. "Jane- YOU did the bible story?!"
"yup. it was fun!"
we immediately discussed what kind of special reward she would get for doing something so brave, mature and others-centered.

I tell kids about God all the time. and I find a lot of satisfaction in that. now my kid got a taste of what its like to serve God and help others. and I'm so, so pleased, deep down in my heart by that. I've been praying for something like that.

I'm so glad that children's ministry gave Jane that opportunity- now we need to find ways to fan that flame.

God is love.
-rev-rob