George
George (not his real name) is not your average student. He is a third grader who has been in our Campus Link Bible Club at a local elementary school for a couple of years. To say the least, George has been a challenge in our classes—in every class. He is not the best listener. He doesn’t sit still. He has question after question, and some are the same question in different forms as he tries to get the answer he wants. He just seems to get under our skin.
At the beginning of this school year, George was not enrolled in our Bible club. It was a bittersweet realization – sweet for the relative calmness of the class but bitter because we knew he needed to hear the Gospel just as much as the others.
As time went on, we found out that because of his grades and such, he was now in the academic after-school program. A short time later, we received an enrollment form for him to begin coming to our Bible class again. Confused and semi-excited, we welcomed him back into our class. (After talking to one of the elementary school teachers involved in the academic after-school program, we learned that George had been suspended from riding the school bus to and from school and from their after-school program.)
George was back, and so were his usual antics. My patience was growing very thin. The only thing that seemed to put a dent in his behavior was reminding him that he was at the end of his line with options.
As more time went on, the Lord began working – I think more on me than on George. (Imagine that!) He began showing me that George wasn’t the only one with the problems and that I needed to make some changes myself. I was not being as patient I should have been. I wasn’t showing as much of God’s love and understanding as I should. I wasn’t remembering the great need that George had and still has for a personal relationship with God.
During one class we were talking about Thanksgiving and had a craft for the students to do. It was a placemat. On the one side was a page for them to color and decorate. On the other was a list of the letters of the alphabet, and they were to write something they could be thankful for next to each letter – A-apples, B-brothers, etc. Everyone seemed to be doing okay with it, except George. So I began to help George with some of the letters by making some suggestions and listening to his, as well. He took some of my ideas and some of his. The more we worked together, the more the Lord was working on me. It was then that I began seeing the good kid that was inside of George and understanding some of the things that were important to him.
That day, in those few moments, my outlook was changed – not only toward George but also toward ministry. I was reminded that ministry is not only us teaching them but that there are also times that we need to be taught and have our lives changed, again and again and…
George has helped to change me, and I hope and pray that Lord will change George. I don’t mean that he would become a perfect child in our class every week (although I know he could, and that would be awesome). I mean that I hope that one day George will not only see his need but that he would act on that need for a real relationship with God. Also, I hope that I would not just share but I would also show what a relationship is with God.
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