Not quite "everything" he'll need to know, but...

Every Wednesday at TCC we have something we call After School BLAST. BLAST is for kids 4 years old thru fifth grade, and starts with an hour of tutoring followed by an hour and a half of a snack, game, bible story and prayer, some worship songs, and learning about a different country of our world and what God is doing there. We normally have anywhere from 15 – 25 kids from the community house neighborhood who we pick up and bring and it’s a pretty fantastic time. One of my primary roles at BLAST is that I teach the bible story to the kids each week. I have really been blessed by all of their questions, comments, and growth over the past three years. I have one story in particular that I want to share about one boy that really has impacted me.

Last spring the community house received seven raised beds from the Victory Garden Initiative to plant a community garden. We talked to some of our neighbors and decided the best place for the beds was about a block south of our house. Through planting, and watering and just being in that part of the neighborhood more we got to know some of the people who lived there pretty well. One of those people was a fourth grade boy. He came outside and helped us plant some of the vegetables and watered and picked them throughout the summer. He started coming to BLAST in the fall. He’s a pretty quiet, well behaved kid who can easily get lost in a room full of rambunctious 3rd – 5th graders, but I always appreciated the way he listened, and his thoughtful questions during the Bible story.

One day, close to Christmas, he came up to me and handed me an envelope. I asked him what it was and he told me it was a Christmas card and that they had been asked to make a Christmas card for someone they cared about at school. He had picked me. I felt really flattered and opened the card.

“Mr. Ben, thank you for being my friend and teaching me everything that I need to know about God. Merry Christmas.” 

That card really rocked my world. Some days I wonder if all the time we invest in the neighborhood is making a difference, if the kids are actually getting anything out of what we are trying to teach them. That card was a wonderful reminder for me that the kids are actually getting something out of being at BLAST, that God is working and moving even through our small efforts.