Brain Clogged Up By a Rhino?

So I thought that I would update the site and add some fresh flavor rather than just a malfunctioning ankle. Basically, the purpose of this post is to say- I am dumb, but God is great.

This last week was the "Kingdom of the Son" (safari themed) vacation bible school at our church. I was asked to teach the fourth grade class which included going with the class to games, snacks, singing and crafts.

For those of you who remember VBS as a boring experience with all the livelihood of a daycare center during naptime, that is not the way it happens at our church. The saturday before a group of people get together and with only butcher paper and tempera paint transform the church into a scene from whatever the theme is that year for VBS. During the week it is pedal to the metal, with the helpers going 150% to simply keep us with these kids for five days.

It was in that "gung-ho" spirit that I set out. Now, the teachers are all responsible to decorate their individual classrooms and add their particular flair to the ambiance. For the fourth grade class (officially dubbed as "The Rhinos") I decided that the space in the room would be particularly well served by a life-size paper machet replica of a Rhinocerous. I had been to the zoo a couple of weeks before and had pictures from which to work. I went out and bought chicken wire and all the necessary materials, how hard could it be? Right?

Well, to make a long story short, ummm....during the Saturday transformation of the church into an African Savannah the favorite comment of folks entering my room was "Are you guys the elephants?"

The picture above is of me and Ronaldo the Rhino. Ronaldo was the result of a lot of work, time, frustration and very little planning on my part. It was one of those things where I had lofty dreams and aspirations of a quick project that would look great and all the fourth graders would think would be awesome. Hardly. Honestly, thinking back, I have no idea what I was thinking. I have not one speck of artistic ability, had three days to complete the project and had only done paper machet once back in the second grade or something. But I was stubbornly determined to make myself a Rhino and the more that I worked on it, the less likely I became to cut my losses and do something productive.

When I look back on this experience, I think of the passage in Luke 14 where Jesus warns the people who are fickle followers of him to count the cost of becoming his disciple. Surely if I had looked objectively at the costs of time and money for this project in comparison to the benefits for eternity, I would have seen in a minute that it was not worth it. But that was the point, I couldn't see it. I couldn't see it because of my own pride. I wanted to do the Rhino so that it would be this great thing and all of the fourth graders would feel special and priviledged to call themselves a Rhino.

What I have learned now is not to waste time with things that do not really matter. (Yeah, I think the kids appreciated the rhino and the decorations, but nobody got saved in our class because Ronaldo shared the gospel with them.) I don't think that it was until about halfway through the day on Saturday that I realized that Ronaldo didn't make any difference in regard to eternity, but the teaching of God's Word that would happen in the classroom did.

I praise the Lord that he uses the foolish people and things of the world to work for his eternal purposes. VBS did turn out really well. The truth of God was proclaimed to over 150 kids. 3 of the kids in my class made professions of faith which I hope and pray were genuine and will be lasting. Who would think that God could use me, a man who had Rhino on the brain leading up to VBS, to proclaim the gospel that 3 fourth graders would hear and place their trust in and hopefully be transformed by for the rest of their lives?

Praise the Lord!