AWANA - Just Listen First

I'm back much sooner than I thought! I mentioned AWANA a few months ago, and after last night's club I just felt like I had to come back and reiterate how cool the program is.

The goal of AWANA is "to reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and train them to serve Him." We try to achieve that by teaching them Bible verses, telling them a story/lesson, songs, and then, of course, we have a time for games :) The group I work with are 'Sparks' (K-2), and they are awesome. Between teaching them verses, helping at game time, and being there during their lessons, I'm sure they have taught me just as much as we teach them. I have a blast every week. Seeing their faces light up when they say a section of verses, earn a jewel from saying multiple sections, or their team wins for the night... those are the things that make me come back. The not-as-great times when we need to slow them down for a quick chat are good too, I mean hey.. we all need a little instruction now and then. I'd rather do it kindly in that kind of an environment though, where we can explain why certain actions/word aren't good.

Needless to say, last night was an exceptionally good night. Every student on our team had their uniform, said a section, and earned a jewel. We have been struggling with some of those things lately, and it was a great encouragement to know that these kids are still working hard. Not only did our team say 30 sections (some have more than one verse!), the whole Sparks group (approximately 35 kids) said 102 sections! How cool is that?!

I really think we underestimate kids. We were each a 'kid' once.. remember how adults undermined you, saying you couldn't do certain things because " " and they'd list reasons? They're so smart.. and sometimes we just forget that, or fail to acknowledge it. I observed a conversation last night between two boys on my team. We watched a movie for the lesson. It was about three trees; each had a dream of being something when they grew up, but God had a different plan for them. One became a manger, one a boat, and one a cross. The boys started whispering back and forth, so I leaned in so I could quiet them down. I overheard a comment about 'what do you think they're making with that?' so I stopped to listen. The other said 'oh, I betcha its the boat Jesus was on when he calmed the water!' 'oh yeah! that makes sense!' was the reply. Well sure enough.. that was what one of the trees was made into. At that point, I was a little flabbergasted... they weren't just watching the movie, they were consuming the movie. They whispered each other into a realization that the last tree was made into the cross that Jesus was crucified on too. I didn't stop the whispering. We were in the back row, no one was complaining, and it was healthy conversation between the two boys who were helping each other get more out of the movie. They got the point. I sat back and thought about their innocent conversation that only I had heard. We are often so quick to shush kids when they're whispering during a quiet time, that we fail to listen. We can miss so much if we don't listen. I'm glad I didn't tell them to stop whispering, because I learned once again, that we underestimate them.. who knows what they could be talking about. Yeah, sometimes its not pertinent to whats going on, they could just be fooling around. But we'll never find out if we don't listen first.

Listen to a 'kid' today. You may be surprised at what they have to teach you :)