I'll Do My Best

Fifteen years ago, my husband and I returned from our honeymoon, tan and madly in love, and spent the next month choosing a church together.  We knew it was a huge decision, one that would be central to our marriage and our family.  We settled in at a church that was similar to the church we had attended throughout college - one whose pastor preached the Word of God with conviction, clarity and uncompromising zeal. He still preaches like that today, and I am so deeply grateful.

The youth pastor at the time was in the midst of trying to get an AWANA program off the ground.  AWANA is a program that reaches kids with the gospel of Christ and trains them to serve Him.  AWANA does this through extensive Scripture memory, Bible teaching, discipleship, mentoring, and some games thrown in for fun.  Somehow, word got out to this youth pastor that my husband had significant leadership experience in AWANA, having volunteered in the program as a teenager and throughout his college years.  Before we could blink, he had taken my husband out for pie and asked him to head up the T&T portion (3rd - 6th graders) of the AWANA club its first year.

Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed

My husband enthusiastically agreed, holding a deep-seated passion for teaching God's Word to kids.  I had no AWANA experience whatsoever, but I was newly married with stars in my eyes and wherever my beloved husband went, I was sure to follow.  I signed on to be a small group leader for the T&T girls.  No one kept records of numbers back then, but we couldn't have had many more than 30 kids in the program that first year.  I fell head-over-heels in love with my T&T girls, and God planted a burgeoning passion in my heart to match my husband's.

The next year, the youth pastor handed the AWANA program over to my husband in its entirety, and he became AWANA Commander over the whole preschool-6th grade deal - a position he holds to this day.  I loved working with the 3rd-6th grade girls so much that I decided I was there to stay as well.

After two years of marriage, we had our first baby.  We placed her in her little carseat carrier and carted her off to AWANA with us each and every week.  When the time of night came for me to meet with my small group of T&T girls, I would tuck her carseat next to the AWANA secretary's desk, and the secretary would kindly keep an eye on the baby for me while I met with my older girls.  Later, during game time, our little munchkin would contentedly suck away at her bottle in the middle of the noisy chaos.  Each child that came into our family after that lived the very same story.  AWANA has been a part of their lives since the day we brought them home from the hospital; it's in their blood.

Nine years ago, that first little munchkin of ours was finally old enough to enter the AWANA preschool program herself.  She donned her little blue and red vest, looped her AWANA bag over her shoulder, and trotted in to her very first night of Cubbies.  Just last night, she graduated from the program as a mature and lovely 6th grader.  Where did the years go?!

I've seen incredible things these past 15 years in AWANA.  I've had the privilege of praying with kids to receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior;  I've seen little, tiny Cubbies grow up to be God-honoring teenagers and adults; I've seen our church surround and provide for a family in need because their daughter mentioned to her AWANA leader that her mom didn't have enough money to give her for school lunch the next day; I've been led by the Holy Spirit to teach a large-group lesson on the hope and joy God offers us in the midst of suffering, completely unaware that a girl who lost her mother to cancer that very afternoon sat in the room; I've seen adult AWANA volunteers come to the realization that they don't have an authentic relationship with God and decide to turn their lives over to Him; I've seen a young girl who was invited to AWANA by a neighborhood friend choose to make Jesus her Savior, then invite her parents to attend our church on the weekend, which led to her parents also accepting Christ, which led to their marriage ultimately being rescued from the brink of divorce (and that's a story I've seen repeated before my eyes on several different occassions).

In addition to all this, God continues to bring more and more kids to our front door. What started out as a small and humble group that first year has now grown to a group of over 350 kids on an average AWANA night, along with over 100 volunteers who love and support them.  Each year that number increases significantly.  We are absolutely bursting at the seams with these kids, and we're thrilled out of our minds about it!

Each year of AWANA ends with an awards ceremony that honors and celebrates the kids' accomplishments for the year. These kids are simply amazing. The amount of Scripture that they have to commit to memory to complete just one AWANA book is incredible. Since those early years, it's been so much fun to watch the kids that we know and love grow in God's Word. Some of the girls I had in my very first T&T group are married now and working on families of their own. Last year, one of my girls who was finishing up her last year of AWANA wrote me a note to tell me that she plans to let me know when she's an AWANA leader with a group of her own someday. Oh, the joy!

The past several years, we've ended the awards ceremony by bringing every single one of those crazy kids into the sanctuary at the same time.  They pack the stage, the aisles, and every last corner in that sanctuary until I'm sure we're breaking at least five city fire ordinances.  And then, together, they sing praises to Jesus in front of their families and friends.  My heart fills to bursting every time, and I'm helpless to stop the tears streaming down my cheeks.  How on earth did we gain the privilege of teaching all these piles of children about Jesus?!  If you add them all together over the years, they number in the thousands.  If what we teach them sinks in and sticks even a small percentage of the time...I can't take in the result.  I long for the day in heaven when one of our AWANA kids approaches their old AWANA leader and says, "I'd like you to meet my great-great grandchild.  She's here today because I met Jesus in Cubbies all those many, many years ago." 

Glory!!

It's that thought that keeps my husband and I, and so many others, coming back week after week, year after year.  When we're dealing with that difficult child who we'd rather tie to the back of a tractor than show the love of Jesus, we think of heaven.  When our minds wander to the 4,561 other things we could be doing with our Wednesday nights, we think of heaven.  And when those 350 kids packed the aisles last night and sang to Jesus at the top of their lungs...

I'll do my best, I'll do my best;
Oh-oh-oh,
I'll do my best for You!

...I thought of heaven.  And my own heart began to sing to Jesus:  If You will keep them walking through our doors, Lord, then I'll do my best, I'll do my best; Oh-oh-oh, I'll do my best for You.

Please listen, HERE, and let your mind fill with visions of heaven

When God takes your breath away

I've been involved in Christian ministry of one sort or another for as long as I can remember. It's part of the believer's call - we are filled up so that we can be poured out for the Lord.

Some of those ministries I've chosen strategically - they're the ones that utilize my gifts and my passions, and I care about them deeply. Other ministries I've stepped into simply because there has been a need - the fit hasn't been perfect, but I've been available.

Occassionally, however, I've been involved in a ministry that has just knocked my socks off. Yes, it fits my gifts and passions, but it's more than that. It's like the Holy Spirit takes every piece...every person...every moment...and ignites it with Holy fire. And all I can do is stand back and watch the spectacle. This week has been like that for me.

My heart always beats with late-elementary-aged kids, but this week has been something special. I've had the privilege of teaching 4th-6th grade kids how to study the Bible. I said "yes" to the job because it fits both my passions and my gifts. But, honestly, I felt wholly and completely inadequate from the start. So inadequate, actually, that I almost quit during a "freak out" moment months back. It's funny how that's so frequently the first sign that God is about to do something awesome. I stayed in the ring because God told me I couldn't quit - that I was the person He picked for the job. I'm so glad that I stuck around to see what He was up to. Here are a few snapshots that will burn in my heart forever...


*A young boy, bent low over his Bible, deeply absorbed in a chapter of Scripture that no one told him to read.

*A group of three girls, huddled together around a table, heads bowed, eyes closed, lifting each other up in prayer.

*The Holy Spirit, palpable, dwelling in a room filled with children seeking His face. It takes my breath away.

*A youth leader, transparent, who shares his past failings so that the kids he shepherds can learn from his mistakes.

*A crew of kids, learning to lead worship, who begin the week embarrassed and shy, and end it raising the roof for God.

*My own daughter, glowing, as she learns to use her gifts. When did she come into her own? My heart beats proud.

*A teenage boy who, quite against culture, has gotten over himself and decided to use his gifts fully for the Lord.

*A handful of young girls who get so fired up about studying their Bibles that they go home and start right away.

*Young hands serving others - learning to be selfless.

*A group of adult women with different gifts, different personalities, different ages, who God has brought together and pieced together to make an impact on His children. Parts of His Body fit into a whole. I'm so blessed to call them my sisters.

Everything I've seen this week has made me want to throw my fist in the air and shout "Yes! Yes, yes!!"

Actually...I did.

This afternoon.

Right in the middle of my kitchen.

Shhh, don't tell anyone.