The Sunday School Class from (well, let’s just say NOT heaven)

As the director of children’s ministries at my church, I walked into the summer “Adventure Bible Style” class with confidence and enthusiasm.  I had my experiment prepared and made copies of the craft and on the spot skit.  I knew most of these kids from vacation Bible school or AWANA, but this would be a large mixed group of ages four through third grade.

No problem.  I could handle it.  I”m a professional teacher by trade and I know how to deal with discipline and keep kids entertained for an hour…. RIGHT?  And then they arrived, the whole zoo of them.  The little guy who thought he should run to and fro in the back of the room saying that he was hungry.  The monkeys who wrestled over the question ball and found appropriate times to make rude noises with their hands in their armpits.  The four year olds who were more comfortable laying down on the floor (and taking a nap?) instead of sitting up and listening.

Before I knew it, the puppet we used to introduce our lesson was on the top of the bookcase, the question ball was at the bottom of a  dog pile and the littlest member of our class had a ziplock full of craft foam asking if he could eat it.  EEEEEK!! I made it through the hour, but came home and complained for at least three more hours.  I took me a while to debrief the whole experience, but I realized two (or maybe three) key things by the end of the day.

I thought I could do it alone. I figured I could handle 30 high school students in a classroom, so I could do a large group of young kids by myself too.  How many times do we charge into situations assured that we can handle things all by ourselves?  I should have known better!  God made us as a body for a reason:  we need each other!

I relied upon my expertise and experience to make a good class and my pride tripped me up.  What was it that God said about pride?  Something about falling….did He say flat on your face?  Well, I don’t think I need to say much more than that.  It was a good pride crushing face falling reminder to keep my pride in check!

What I realized after I complained about all the trouble makers and quiet disturbers I had in that class was that the real problem was with me. I didn’t prepare with prayer or by obtaining help for the morning from the family of God.

So often I point the finger at others when I am disgruntled or had a bad day, but when I sort it out, I can see that if I had done things differently, it might have had a different outcome.  How many trials or frustrations could I have avoided if I had relied upon God’s strength and His family instead of trusting in myself?

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