The Phone Call

Yesterday I felt humbled and a little awed by a phone call I received. Readers who have been with me for a while now will have noticed that the subject of Sunday School comes up from time to time. I love teaching and I love reading the stories and imagining all the different angles that a story can have and I miss it. Most of the time it’s making a connection with the kids as much as anything else. The most rewarding moments in my time as a Sunday School teacher are when you make a point and look in a kid’s eyes and see a light come on and know that they “got it.” They got your point or saw where you were going with the story and what it meant. There are some kids that seem to always get it and there are always a few with whom you just never make a connection.

It was by God’s divine will that I came to Colorado Springs and put roots deep down in this church; planting my family here thirty-one years ago. It was by God’s divine providence and blessing that I have been teaching Sunday School for thirty of those years. In my post on August 24, 2019 entitled My Favorite Sunday School Student or The Tapestry of Life I talked about the joy and pride you feel when you know that you have been a part of someone’s life and had some sort of positive influence.

I was just walking around the house yesterday evening, I can’t tell you what I was doing because I don’t really remember, something nondescript, when my phone rang. I saw the name and answered right away. When this person calls it is normally some church business or message from Pastor or Bishop. It wasn’t anything like that. She called to tell me how wonderful of a Sunday School teacher I had always been and to thank me for being such a positive influence in her life and how much she appreciated me. She is a teacher at our private school (when it’s open) and said that when she finds herself filled with frustration she sometimes thinks of me. She has many other responsible duties at the church and is, in my estimation, an important person now.

As she talked about different lessons I had taught over the years I remembered her as a sweet little girl who would run up and hug me and tell me she loved me. As they grow up the hugs become side-hugs and then there comes a point when usually just a handshake and a smile and a spoken greeting are appropriate. The eyes still say the same thing they did when they were four, however. Sometimes the eyes say more as they get older and realize what all has happened over time. You watch them grow up into useful members of society and most importantly they become useful and even necessary to the Kingdom of God.

My eyes got all wet while she was talking about how important I was to her. People from our local assembly can easily put two and two together and figure out who I mean but I hope you know I would never, ever purposely embarrass someone. At the same time, I just felt such strong emotions that I wanted to get them vented out somewhere. Remember, the Good Book says:

Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.

(1Ti 5:1-2)