Just Because I Can

Last week I helped with VBS.  My job was to hang out with the first grade group and take them from station to station.  It was a large class, and most of the kids were quite upset that they were being called first graders when they were just about to begin second grade.  After the first day they settled down about that and I tried to refrain from calling them first grade.  Since the theme was undercover agents, and as part of the opening skits the students had been ranked as "cadets," that is what I would call out to get the group's attention.

There were several boys in the group who were challenging for one reason or another a it took a lot of work to hold their attention.  There was a pair of cousins who talked a lot, and a couple of kids who seemed to enjoy wrestling.  There was one boy who liked to express defiance, though he usually complied afterward, and there was one boy who was particularly fond of yelling.  Most of the week I didn't notice the yelling, it's not so bad when it's part of the rally, but Thursday night he was doing it while there was relatively little other noise.  There was a big crowd because  it was the evening when all the parents were there to see what the kids had been learning all week. I looked at him and I told him that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.   I explained that there are times when it is appropriate to yell, but this was not one of them.   I told him it would be alright if he raised his hand and was called on to answer a question.  I felt bad though, like I had somehow taken the fun out of it for him.

Later Thursday evening I was talking to Eric, and telling him that a ministry need I had been thinking of filling to had a new volunteer.  I told him that I was glad, and that my words to the boy at VBS were ringing in my ears, "just because you can doesn't always mean you should." For the time being God has specifically placed me in the ministry that leads worship through music.  That doesn't mean that I can't be involved elsewhere, but I want to make sure I am serving well where I am called.  I have served in children's ministry in the past, and still do to some degree with VBS and Good News Club, but I was thinking of  engaging in an aspect of it that it is simply not my time for.  I didn't know it until that moment.

The following morning when I saw the little guy with the big voice I told him that he had taught me a lesson the previous day.  I asked if he would like to know what it was.  He said he did, so I explained that when I told him, "just because you can doesn't mean you should," it helped me see that I don't have to do everything I can do either.  A good friend of mine says that multitasking is the art of doing more than you should worse that you could.  I think I have that right.  That's the general gist anyway.  I happen to agree.  Over committing is a lot like multitasking, only it stretches over a longer period of time.   I am thankful for the peace and relief I felt, for what I learned and that I could share it with the child.

Later that day the same little boy was asked a question by another leader.  "Who are you going to tell about Jesus when you go home?"  His answer was, "me."  The adult replied that he already knew about Jesus, he needed to tell someone else.  I understood him to mean that he knew about Jesus, but he really didn't know Jesus personally.  I stepped aside with him where the other kids couldn't hear and talked to him about it.  He was very emotional and misty eyed.  He said that he wanted to trust Jesus as his Savior, but not then and there; he would do it when he got home.  I don't know if he really went home and began a relationship with the One who gave His life for him, but I am praying for him.  I would rather see someone take the time to really think it through than to just go through the motions.  The words we say and the prayers we pray are meaningless until they are real in our hearts. I do know this, that little guy unexpectedly touched my heart and blessed me.