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.

I can do all things

Ten year old Tommy enter the room and asked his mother, "Hey mom, can you sew theses words on this t-shirt for me? "

His mother looked at the words Tommy had written on the paper and said "my new sewing machine could do it but why do you want those words on your t-shirt?

It was our memory verse and I like the verse and I thought it would be cool to have it put on one of my shirts.

So the next day, when Tommy got home from school, his mother handed him the t-shirt with the words sowed across the front.

Tommy went upstairs and put it on and looked into the mirror and then repeated the words, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  "Wow!" Tommy thought.  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

For the next couple of days, Tommy wore that shirt under his sweat shirt whenever he went out to play.  He took an old dish towel and safety penned it to the back of the shirt likes cape.  When he ran around his room, it felt like he was flying.  He was Tommy, who could do all things through Christ that stregnthens him.  

A couple of days later, he and his friends were riding their bikes down the street.  As they drove past Mr.  Weathers  house, they could see that he was working on his car in the driveway.  He waved to the boys and climbed back under the car.  Suddenly, the car shifted and fell of the jack.  Mr. Wether's feet were sticking out from under the car.  tommy  and his friends could not believe their eyes.  Tommy's friends all ran off in fear, but not Tommy.  Stripping off his sweat shirt, he ran like the wind to the front of the car, his cape flying in the breeze.  He placed his hands on the bumper and repeated the phrase, "I can do all things through Christ who stregnthens me" and he pushed with all him might.  Slowly the car began to rise off Mr. Wethers.  Tommy picked up the car and began moving the car to the side of the driveway away from the unconscious Mr. withers.  He slowly lowered the car to the drive way and...

"Tommy, are you ready for church.  We have to leave soon if we are going to make it on time."

"Sure mom, I was just thinking about our memory verse for this week.  I'll be right downstairs."

He walked pass the mirror and looked at his image, flexed his ten year old muscles and repeated " I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

"I'm coming right now mom,  I don't want to be late to church,"  and off he ran down the stairs. 

Being about our Father's Business

 

The older lady sat in the corner of the waiting area in the airport, her eyes ablaze with nervousness at being in such a busy place and scared to death at the thought of flying.  She had never ventured very far away from her home and only on a couple of occasions had she traveled even just a few hours away to visit the city.  Now she was getting ready to fly across the country to be with her son for the holidays.  She had tried to get out of going but her son’s family insisted that she come out to their home and visit.  “Mom”, he finally told her firmly, I’m not taking no for an answer.  It will be fine.  I’ll take care of all the tickets.”

She had gotten a ride to the airport and now she found herself sitting by herself in the corner waiting for them to call out her flight number.  So many people were coming and going, the intercom overhead seemed to be calling out an endless barrage of flight numbers and destinations, all of this was making her even more scared than she had been at the thought of flying out to see her son.

“Hi,” a voice interrupted her thoughts.  “Is any one sitting here?”

The older lady turned to see a young man beside her.  His hair was a little long and he wore one of those sock hats pulled down over his head.  He wore a light jacket opened and she could see a college name on his t shirt.  His jeans were holy and he had on some of the wildest socks she had ever seen.  She was taken by his question, there were other seats empty around the room but he had asked if  the seat next to her was taken.  It made her uncomfortable at first, but she didn’t  own the seat, she thought, so she responded as pleasantly as she could, “No, I’m all alone in this corner.”

He sat down one seat from her and placed his backpack in the seat between them.  “Where are you going?” he asked pleasantly.

She told him she was flying to see her son and his family for the holidays. 

“Is this your first time to fly?”  He asked.

“Does it show?” she responded laughing.  “Yes, and to be honest, I’m scared to death. “

“Let me see your ticket and I’ll go over and check the board to see if your flight is still on time and to be sure that they  have not moved the gate you need to be at.  I know how confusing flying can me.”

He glanced at her flight number and destination and went over to the board marked “Departures” and returned in just a moment.  “Your flight is still on time and you are in the right place.  The place where you will show your ticket is right over there and it won’t be much longer.

They sat and talked about her son, her grandkids, how she had lost her husband in the last year and how lonely the house had become since his death.  She was excited to see her son and his family she told him but she was also frightened of the unknown of flying. 

The announcement came for her flight and he stood up and told her he would walk with her to the boarding area. 

“Have a good flight and a wonderful time with your family over the Christmas season” he said as they reached the end of the line.”

“So when does your flight leave? “

“Oh, I flew home this morning from college.  I live here.”

“You mean you could have already been on your way home to your family?  You gave up your family to sit with a total stranger and help calm her fears.”

Smiling, he spoke these words to her “Know ye not that I must be about my Father’s business.”  And with that he waved goodbye.