The Welcome

With the joy and pride kindergarten parents have,  they dressed their only child with care for his first day of classes.  Dad had taken the day off work so he could be there for the this special day.  They placed their son in the car,put on the seat belt and sang all the way to the school.  When  they arrived at school, the son took his mother hand and they walked into  the building.

As they entered the building, there were greeted by a table across the hall with a lady sitting behind the table.  In front of her were large stacks papers piled neatly into stacks that she knew were by grades, k-3rd grade.  As their eyes adjusted to light in the hall, what they saw was an older lady, her hard pulled back tightly into a bun on the back of her head.  Her glasses were thick and dark rimed, and her face show hard lines around her eyes and mouth.  She spoke with the volume and mannerism of a drill Sargent.

"Can I help you?" she bellowed so loudly that the little boy jumped.

"We're here to enroll our son into kindergarten.  He is so excited about starting school."

"Fill out these papers over there and bring them back to me," she responded.

The young man and his parents went over to some chairs along the wall and filled out the paperwork.  It seemed like a lot of questions, many of them seemed to have little to do with kindergarten,but the parents filled out the paper.  When they finished, the returned to the table.

'We've finished the paperwork, is here anything else that we need to do?" asked the father.

"Here is the pre-kindergarten test.  Your son will need to do the test in 10 minutes.  You cannot help in any way, he must do this on his own."

With that said she handed the young man a 20 page test booklet with a pencil.

The father took to test and glanced at the questions.

"This looks like a college entrance exam.  There isn't way that our son can answer of these questions."

"I'm sorry,"  the lady responded, "if he does not pass the test, he cannot enter this kindergarten.  We have high standards here and we are not about to start lowering out standards."

"Is there another kindergarten in the neighborhood?" they asked.

"Yes, there's one just down the street, but, you know, they take just anyone,"  she responded disgustedly.

"How many students have you enrolled In your school?"  the mother asked.

"I'm proud to say that no one has passed our entrance exam to any of our classes.  We are a proud old school and we have established  a standard that we are simply not going to lower."

The parents took their son and returned to the car.  They drove down the street to find the other kindergarten. It was no problem to find, there were cars and people everywhere.  Children were playing in the playground, the air was filled with the sound of joy.

When they emerged from the car they were met by another older lady, but this one had a huge smile on her face and the warmth of her smile made all three smile in response.

"How are you on this wonderful day," she said.  "I bet this young man wants to go to school.  Well, we're so glad that you are here.  If you will go right through that door, there be people inside who will be glad to take your information and enroll your son in our school."  

As there went though the door, another lady, this one younger, met them.
"Can I help you?"  she asked kindly.

"I want to go to school here," said the little boy.  

"And we want you to go to school here.  Let's have your mom and dad answer a few questions and we'll get your started."

In just a few minutes the paperwork was done, the young man was playing on the playground after waving by to his overjoyed parents.

Which school would you want your child to go to?  Ever felt like that?  Then try visiting a new church.  Try bringing  your children into some churches, where the standard  is that children are to be seen, not heard, and that any childish behavior will not be tolerated.  Try visiting not dressed properly, not carrying the right kind of bible, not passing the entrance exam.  You will feel like the parents of our young man, but then drive down the street where the vision is that people are important, that there are enrolling in our school so that we can teach them to be like Jesus.  what a difference.

What kind of church do you attend? Is it the church where visitors feel like they are wanted or  do they feel like the must pass the test to attend.