Service Even When It Is Not "Required"

By Cornelia Seigneur

It's a January Sunday morning, Keenan Booher's month off from his every-other month volunteer "Greeter" position at the church.

You've probably met him. He's the tall gentleman, with wisps of a beard and dark brown eyes, who opens doors for folks at church. For both services.

And though this is his month off, there he is, at the front of the church entry near the high school ministry, warmly ushering folks into 11AM church. You really feel like he cares that you are here.

"Good morning ladies, how are you?" he says to a mother and daughter.

"Hey, dude, how's it going?" he asks of a high school student coming for 11 O'clock Amplify.

On another church member he notices, "Those are warm boots."

"Good morning! Are you cold?" he asks playfully as a young gentleman, sans jacket, shivers by him.

Why, you might wonder, is Keenan greeting folks on this, his month off?

"There's a need and I enjoy helping when I can," he says cheerfully.

That is why he joined the youth ministry's mission trip to Mississippi last summer and leads a Bridge Bible study on Monday nights for 11th grade boys this school year.

Also, it's precisely why he spent a weekend in December serving at 5 Rock Ranch, a retreat center that ministers to youth and families. He and his community group offered to be available for whatever work needed to be accomplished at the ranch. 

During the day, the men installed new shower heads in the ranch's 24-room hotel. They mounted soap dispensers, replaced flooring, laid new plywood and installed an automatic towel rack in the bathroom. 
The women helped clean the kitchen and assisted with other tasks.

In the evenings, they gathered around the fireplace, singing songs and sharing stories.

"They told us stories about how state organizations are locking up offenders and how their ministry is helping reach families and  introducing people to Christ," Keenan shared. "5 Rock Ranch wants to teach men how to mentor others to be a father to a young kid, to teach a boy to become a man, and to help young women."

Keenan came home from the working weekend at 5 Rock Ranch by 9AM on that Sunday in December, just in time to be a Greeter at church.

It was his month on. But, I have a feeling; he would have been there either way.

Read Cornelia's blog at:  writermom5kids.blogspot.com

One Night in the Stable

By Terri Conlin

"Had he been like the other sheep,
he would have been in the valley.
But since he was different,
he was in the stable, among the first to
welcome Jesus into the world."

This wing of the children's hospital seemed forgotten, but soon would fill with noisy children gathered for a Christmas story. The friends busied themselves stringing twinkle lights and hanging ornaments on a tree. Two children arrived bundled in red wooden wagons, pulled along by a nurse and connected to an IV pole. One boy sat in a wheelchair. The small group glittered their own faces, sang a few carols to complete the festive atmosphere and waited for more children. The clock ticked into the silence and was only broken when the hospital liaison said, "this is your audience."

The desire to bless seriously ill children in the hospital began with Alan and his wife, Gail, more than 34 years ago. A memory stirred deep in their hearts. They once walked these desperate corridors when their own daughter lay in a metal hospital crib. She was just sixteen months old with a tumor that had grown exponentially in just three days' time. They were young, broke, and terrified, yet wrapped in blessings by those who rallied to their side, and a God who watched over them.

Gail began with a gracious phone call and a simple question, "What do you need?" The hospital liaison was close to tears for the humble approach. "We need Bibles in Spanish for our families who have worn ragged our photocopies of Psalm 23." Gail and friends happily shopped with funds collected by their community group. Terry chose a story to read aloud. Being a Pastor of Dramatic Arts, he envisioned a small production – animated face, booming voice and perhaps a costume for effect. Their hearts were full of anticipation.

Then, with the advent of their visit, came the disappointments one on top of the other. No face paint on the children, no wrapped gifts (the staff would wrap and distribute), no costumes, and above all no religious stories allowed. Hospital policy you understand. Terry hung up the phone, deflated and a bit angry. He was afraid the message was to bring Christmas, but not Christ. He perused the library for another book and came upon The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado. He respectfully offered the book to the hospital liaison for her consideration. Terry didn't hear back from her, so meanwhile, he began reading from Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas. He tried not to care that this was not the book he had hoped to read, his audience was so few and the atmosphere somber.

At the close of the book, the liaison suggested he read the other story to the boy in the wheelchair who had retreated to the quietness of his room. He was wrapped in blankets and heavily sedated but, as Terry read, the boy's eyes lit up. He and the lamb shared the same name! At that moment, no angels sang, no shaft of light broke through yonder window, yet the hospital room became a humble stable.

"It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages, boxes or bags!" . . .
"Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more!"

 
Reach Terri Conlin at www.whitepitchers.com