Collin was a child who only came to Bible Club because his Mother forced him to. She would then drive off, leaving him there, and head to the grocery store or some other errand. This may not have been intentional, but it placed us in a predicament at Bible Club. We could not call Collin’s mom to come pick him up when he refused to listen, obey, or cooperate. In fact, one cold day, Collin refused to even enter the building where our Bible Club was held. Nor did he have a warm coat on. Not wanting to man-handle the child, nor wanting him to freeze or get sick, I went inside and grabbed someone’s jacket and told him to put it on while he stood out there in the cold. Then I stayed with him. After all, someone had to…we cannot just leave a child out in the parking lot unattended to! I tried to convince him to come in, tried to find something I could use to “entice” him to come in…to no avail. So we stood, outside, in the cold, frustrated, yet Collin was unrelenting! I think that day he finally did come inside and sit on the back pew away from the other children.
Well, somehow, by the grace of God, I avoided becoming so frustrated with Collin to the point of just “writing him off” as a stubborn, rebellious child, who wasn’t worth working with anymore. Somehow, I kept trying…I know it was of God, because we humans are not like that. He is. So, I finally found something Collin really liked –I don’t remember what it was, maybe a Star Crunch or a Fruit Roll-Up. And I told Collin I would bring one for him the next week, and if he came in, and went right up and sat with the other kids, I would give him this treat. Can you believe, the next week, I think he did come in, and sat with the others! And he started to listen, and was actually pretty attentive to the Bible lesson, as I remember! (Why was that so hard, Collin!?!)
Well, before long I was married, and my husband hustled me off to the East Coast and new ministries there, and I kind of lost track of Collin since I wasn’t in Bible Club anymore. But recently, I received an email from a friend that read something like this:
“…I really wanted to tell you about the Bible Club. I started working in the Bible Club since the summer. In the summer, we had a few children, but after school started our number went up. Last week we had twenty kids and they were all good ;-). Do you remember a boy named Collin? I could be spelling his name wrong. He comes with his older sister, one younger brother, and his one younger sister. That boy is doing really, really good. Abigail told me that he used to be really bad. He would not sit still, he would not talk to you, etc… Abby said, one time he stayed outside during a lesson. Now he is our best kid in our Club. He desires to participate in everything and he listens to the teaching very well. He is a very clever boy. Pastor Voegtlin has been teaching on the Holy Spirit. Even though the lessons are a little bit deep, he understands completely. P. Voegltin’s series of lessons will lead them to the plan of Salvation. Personally, I do not know if he is saved or not. But please keep him in your prayers that he will get saved soon.”
PRAISE THE LORD!
Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 106:1
God is love. I John 4:8, 16
Will you pray with me that Collin accepts Christ as his Savior?