Day 174 - Reaching Out To The Lost

I volunteered a few hours of my time at my church's children's program. It was Wednesday night AWANA class for the elementary and high school aged children.

My church buses in children from low-rent neighborhoods and subsidized housing areas. These children show up at church with no coats, flip-flops, T-shirts, and ragged clothing and worn-out shoes. Our church has a free hot dinner on Wednesday nights, so the kids all get a full tummy before breaking up into their age-specific classes.

My job was to help with the younger elementary-aged children. There were 12-15 of them sitting around tables that had been pushed together to form a square.

One child in particular was a very angry little boy. I knew from the first five minutes of class that this kid was T-R-O-U-B-L-E. He couldn't stay focused. He bullied the other children around. He had zero respect for me or the other ladies teaching his class.

The first half hour was spent with various children coming up to me and telling me their memorized scripture verses. H

One of the verses was, "The Son of God will be lifted up."

I asked one of the little boys, "Who is the Son of God?"
"I don't know," he retorted and threw his classroom book on the table in agitation because I wouldn't just put my initials next to the verse he had spouted off to me.

"The Son of God is Jesus," I said to him. He could've cared less. I then asked, "What does it mean 'will be lifted up'?"

Again, he was angry at my questions. He said, "I dunno. Maybe someone picked him up?"
"No," I said. "This means that Jesus rose from the dead and he flew up to Heaven."

"So what! Put your name right there," and he pointed to the spot where I was supposed to initial that he had memorized this verse.

As I said, it was total bedlam and chaos for several hours. Even when the children left the classroom to do some physical activity games, the other teachers and I were frantically trying to write down in a log book who had memorized what scripture, and then give them pretend money so they could buy some little trinkets later on.

We had barely finished logging in kids' names and their verses when they all ran back into the room for their snack: Rice Krispies and Koolaid.

One of the lead teachers put in a DVD of the Ten Commandments. Actually, this was good because the children sat still and watched for 20 minutes.

But when it was all over, I was SO relieved.

I was a bit irritated with myself that I had volunteered for this. While my husband sat quietly in the sanctuary for the adult Bible study, I was run ragged with these little hooligans.

I normally I sit in the sanctuary with my husband and together we learn about God's word. But I wasn't even doing that.

This program at the church is a greatly needed program. I'm certain that the hot meal provided may be the only hot meal these children receive all week.

And while I"m talking about it, I realized last night how burdensome and tiring a pastor's wife's job must be within the church. While the pastor is in a quiet sanctuary teaching grown adults about God's word and having adult conversation, his wife is running her buns off trying to reach out to the lost and needy children who have absolutely zero respect for her in return.

Father God, I lift up my pastor's wife and ask that you give her the energy and strength she needs to continue being a godly pastor's wife, serving those who are tough to reach, spending her time racing around a room full of hyper children, and trying to teach the Word of God to those little children who could care less.

I also pray for these children, that somehow, some way, their hearts might be touched as they attend these classes.

Amen.