Working our VBS and hanging out with your wonderful children and grandchildren all week, was so amazing, that it triggered a memory. There was a new kid in the preschool class in one of the churches I was serving. It was a big church in Mitchell, SD, and this little guy was overwhelmed. Every Sunday his parents had to stay with him in the classroom or little Steven would just cry his little heart out. This went on for months.
But one day I looked in on him and there he was sitting in his chair, listening to the teachers, participating in class, without a parent in sight! I was amazed! So, when there looked to be a lull in the class, I took the opportunity to sneak into the class and give him some praise! “Steven! My man! Look at you! All grown up! You are rock in’ it! No mom or dad? You’re a grown up!” Steven smiled, but his face turned serious, as he motions for me to come closer. I went to my knees and bent toward Steven. He cupped his hands and whispered, “I’m not grown up yet, Pastor Brook. I still have to wear pull-ups sometimes!”
I didn’t tell this to Steven, but guess what? We grown-ups still need pull ups too! I still have a file drawer and a link on my phone where I keep letters of encouragement that I’ve received. Most of them, believe it or not, are from children! Pictures they have drawn of me, cards they’ve made, and presents that they made for me! One of my favorites is two huge hand painted rocks! Thanks Jesse and Jackie, your still two of my favorites, too. I do have some wonderful letters and notes from adults, too, but not nearly as many. One letter came to me after I received my first essay test in Systematic Theology in seminary. I was a “Straight A” kind of guy in my school time, but Dr Schubert Ogden was killing me. I didn’t understand a word he said, and it wasn’t his English. It was because he was brilliant, and I just wasn’t as brilliant as he was theologically. My first essay test was a C-, and at the bottom of the well-marked test—he must have used an entire pen’s ink—he wrote, “lucky for you, McBride, I believe in grace, but you better buckle up and study harder!” That exam hit me hard. I was studying more than ever, but it wasn’t getting through. I was considering other options! The next morning, still stinging, I walked with Ben, just 5, as he scooted to the post office. And in the mail was a note from my 2nd grade Sunday school teacher. She had remembered a youth worship service I had been in in 9th grade. I had done the closing prayer, and she said that as I was praying, she felt a nudge from God. And ever since that day, she had been praying that if God so led me, that I would go to seminary and be a pastor. That letter is well worn now. A place of strength and centering in time of trouble! We all need pull-ups! But why is it that grown-ups are so less willing to give them! Maybe that’s why Jesus insisted we must all become children to enter the kin-dom of God! Because it’s that child-like heart that can still find the empathy and gratitude and wonder to believe that a hand-drawn picture given from the heart and colored with grace, is a pull-up from heaven. Dear God, thank you for Vacation Bible School, it allows us to discover our sacred and generous child again. Your preschooler, still learning how to be an adult, Brook By the way, this encouragement thing is not only cool, it’s biblical! Check out this guy named Barnabus in Acts 4:36-37. Paul renamed him Barnabus, which means “encourager,” because he knew how to pull folks up. His instrument of choice? A child’s heart and a crayon! (PS: that crayon part might be a biblical stretch. ;?)