Thursday, April 22, 2010

Rash guards and realities...



Perspective is everything!
Last Sunday I taught in a class that was filled with children, that is for our church's program. As I sat there with 11 eyes on me, I went through the lesson, sang songs and started feeling pretty full of myself.
I had arrived on time, no early.
I had successfully delivered flowers without spilling water.
My youngest had made it through Sunday school.
Yep...I was feeling pretty full of myself.
As I walked out of the building from Sunday School and into a cold spring sunshine.
I scanned the green quad where the bigger kids play
and...well you see the rashguard above...
it was on
my child!
Not the one with a little meat on his bones...
not the skinny one with a chubby tummy....
but the skinny one.
The REALLY skinny one!
Every lack of fat and every toned muscle...
stuck slick to the black rashguard.
The kicker was...
it wasn't HIS rashguard.
It belong to the 6 year old...
so on an 11 year old the shirt was tight...as a glove.
Oh speaking of gloves...

He had a glove on too!
See this is why its hard to blog. I'm cameraless. My first thought was I need a picture.
I was cracking up and trying to think of HOW I was going to solve this problem.
Of course embarrasement waves over me...
but I was hungry so I just went into the church.

Ignoring it didn't work...
I couldn't stand what I THOUGHT other people were thinking...
so I went BACK outside and took the glove.
When he finally strolled into church...
his thin body glistening from wearing a rashguard two sizes two small...
I noticed the thing that really upset me...
dirty jeans, with holes and his favorite "holed" shoes...

You see I left early...to get to church on time...
and left him in the shower...
but a printer malfunction left my husband feeling totally overwhelmed...
so he figured if the child was dressed he was fine!
He didn't even check to see if those were the clothes laid out.

The reality was he was dressed...but NOT for church.
God humbled me in that moment...
letting me know that regardless of how ready you think you are...
you might be neglecting something else. Here I was teaching Sunday school thinking everything was "fine" but in reality...my son was inappropriate for church.

Let's be careful thinking the ACT of going to church will save our kids.
God wants us to prepare them with his word, he is the one who saves.
God wants us to pour Him into them.
He wants them covered with prayer...
just as close as a rashguard is on a child's body.

James says...
Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.

The postscript to this is in church I asked my husband to go and change Mr. Rashguards' clothes.
He did come back with a conference t-shirt my husband had hanging in his room...
the only thing is...

the shirt was on backwards.

That's when I knew I was whipped.
I just opened up my hymnal and continued to sing.
Just praising God He shows me some of His reality...
so I don't get caught up caring about the rashguards of life.

1 comment:

Bethany said...

I'm am laughing aloud but also absorbing the wisdom of the lesson. I think you handled the whole thing with good grace.