Everyone Remembers the First Time

First of all, get your minds out of the gutter. Second of all, I apologize if they weren't in the gutter, but as soon as I said "gutter" they went into the gutter.

This is a story about a summer job I had back in the day. It wasn't my first job. I think it was my second job. (My first job was to stand on a street corner in a busy intersection and hold a giant arrow that pointed in the direction of a new housing development. So yeah, if anyone ever asks me if I know how to work a street corner, I have to say yes. ...Now I think my mind is in the gutter...Sorry about that...)

Moving on.

A traveling group came to my church for a week and taught soccer and Bible stories to the local church kids. My little brother was all about soccer. So he wanted to go. I had zero other options for uses of my free time, so I went and helped out. This was back in high school, before I enjoyed playing with kids. I was a typical high schooler that was utterly convinced of the twin truths of my own genius and my parent's stupidity. (Don't worry, they're a lot smarter now. :) )

When I say I "helped out," what I mean is that I stood in the back while they did all the songs with the embarassing hand motions. And when it came time to play soccer with the kids, I made sure and taught them a lesson in humility by dominating them.

One of the fun games we'd play would have us split into two teams. One team is lined up on the sides of the field with their soccer balls. The other team is in the middle and has to run from one end to the other without getting hit. The last to get hit, wins.

Of course I was the best, and of course it was because of my skill, and not the fact that I was a 17 year old playing against 7 year olds. They thought they were hot stuff, and I was doing my part to teach them some good humility. As it turns out, God thought I could use a lesson in humility too, so I got blindsided by a soccer ball to the face. Pow!

According to the rules, you're only out if you get hit below the waist, but after that hit I voluntarily exited from the game.

At the end of the week, the team goes around and gets the names and contact information for people that would potentially make good future teams. I'm not sure why, but they asked for my name, so I gave them my info.

A few weeks later it was the end of summer, and I got a call. They didn't have enough people to fill out the teams for all the churches they still needed to travel to, and wanted to know if I was interested in going to San Diego for a week.

From my house in Menifee, that's a couple hours away. I still had zero other options using up my free time, so I said yes.

I get down to San Diego and just have the most incredible time. The team bonded immediately. There were two girls, two guys and a head coach. The two girls taught cheerleading, and the three guys taught soccer.

I'd get up in front of the kids and suddenly the hand motions weren't so stupid anymore. There's even a picture of me and my team in front of a crowd of kids doing hand motions on the cover of one of the company's newsletters. I saved it. :)

It was so amazing being in that group. We spent the week and memorized Romans 12. I don't know it anymore, but whenever I see that chapter, I think back to that team. During the week, we even snuck down to Mexico for a day trip. It was the head coach's idea, and he came with us, but when we tried to come back to the US, they wouldn't let us. One of the girls on our team was Mexican and she didn't have her paperwork on her that proved she was allowed to come back to the US.

Our thing at the church was starting soon, so half of the team headed back to start without us, and I stayed with the girl while she made some phone calls. We weren't delayed for more than an hour, but I've never been stuck like that before.

She got the right people on the phone, and the right paper work got faxed over and we're allowed back in the US. We call the team and one of the guys drives down to get us while the head coach and the other girl start the evening's camp. We run and jump into the van and the guy is flying through traffic. We pull into the parking lot and sprint to the church.

When we turn the corner we see everyone just starting the first song of the day, and everyone cheers as we arrive. Phew. The whole week is filled with memorable moments and even more memorable people like that.

At the end of the week, we give the kids a chance to accept Jesus into their hearts. Each of the team members splits off and takes a section of kids. I had my section. We had been practicing this speech all week, and we were armed with our "Evange-cubes."

http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/images/evangcube.gif

They're pretty cool. They flip around and show pictures of Jesus' death and resurrection. I get in front of the kids and set my brain to auto-pilot while I go through this speech. I flip the cube around, just like I practiced. When I get to the end, we all bow our heads and pray to accept Jesus into our hearts.

The end of the speech has me ask if anyone prayed that prayer. If they did, they need to go see an adult to tell them so they can do some follow up. The speech was supposed to end, "Did anyone pray that prayer for the first time." I forgot that last part.

When I asked if anyone prayed that prayer, everyone's hand went up. You know when you're standing on the beach and a wave hits you and nearly knocks you over? That's how I felt in that moment. Everyone prayed that prayer?? I couldn't believe it! You mean you were actually listening?? You mean I just led a crowd of kids to Jesus?? I got this picture in my mind of this guy furiously writing all these new names into the Book of Life.

I told them to go meet with the parents, and I went off by myself. When I was out of sight, I wept. For the first time in my life, I had led someone to Jesus. For the first time in my life, I had done the Lord's work. God used my imperfect speech and goofball actions throughout the week to eternally affect the lives of those kids. It overwhelmed me, and I wept.

That was the last day of camp, and the next summer I signed up for a full summer with that company. We had a new team and tons of new amazing adventures, but I'll never forget that first one. There's nothing like being in the center of God's will for your life.