The Puppy

When we discovered that three of our Kid's Club girls had posted on Facebook some horribly unkind remarks about another child in the Club and his mother, I was not only horrified but also sought wisdom on how to handle the situation. The child who was attacked is a special needs child.

A few days later I called to one of the girls.  "I want to tell you about something that happened and get your input," I said. "Ok," she responded.

I began, "A few days ago, someone brought us a stray puppy with a deformed leg.  The momma dog was with it too.  While we were trying to decide what to do with them, kids began to come in after school.  All of a sudden one of the kids started kicking the little puppy for no reason, just because it looked different.  Then they started kicking the momma dog, too. What do you think we should do?"

"You should kick those kids out of Kid's Club for at least a week," she said in a very incensed tone.  "Who was it?"

"It was you," I said, looking her right in the eyes.  And I named the other two girls.

A confused face suddenly gave way to one of embarrassed recognition. I went on to fill out the parable a bit.  I told her that I wanted her to start going out of her way to show this child kindness, because he was more in need of compassion than most.  She looked me straight in the eyes and said, "I can do that."

And she has done it! The following day I heard her muttering under her breath as she passed me in the living room, "I'm not going to kick that puppy any more. Not goin' to do it."

Thank you Nathan the prophet, II Samuel 12, for the inspiration!

-- Suzanne Wallace

Reality

It was the Little WOW's Bible study and we were studying Jesus feeding the 5000.  After we all acted out the story, I sat down on the floor with the girls and asked, "what are you learning from this story for YOUR life?" The hand of the youngest child shot up.  She is 6 and new to the Club. "Well," she began, "it means that when you get kicked out of your apartment and your family doesn't have any food and you don't have any money, you ask Jesus and he will give you what you need." I was stunned. I was speechless at the way she spoke from her reality.  I was challenged by the faith I saw in her eyes.

-- Suzanne Wallace

March Madness...Village Oaks Style

A great day at Village Oaks!  Our 3rd basketball tournament was a wonderful day for the community.  It featured 48 players competing in the tournament (we had to turn away 3 teams!), a dunk contest, a half-court shot contest, a "Players Only" lounge, half-time worship music from the Men of Nehemiah, and some worship music from our own Ty Choice.  About 250 friends joined us on an absolutely beautiful day.  Praise the Lord!

Thanks Jayda, Ty, Will, James Riley, J-Makk, Larry and our Real Men volunteers: Louie, Sherwood, and Larry.  Look forward to the next tournament!

And, the winning team:

-- Behind Every Door Ministries

Broken

Broken pelvis, broken leg, broken clavicle, cracked vertebrae, cracked ribs, ruptured spleen.  The menu of injuries continued far past these when a car in front of the apartments struck a pedestrian.

After I heard about the event, I tried to find out who the girl was and what had happened.  A witness told me that she was thrown 8 feet into the air and that he couldn’t imagine that she could still be alive.  Upon further investigation, it surfaced that she was the niece of a Willow Pond resident, and that she was still alive and in the hospital.

With permission from the Grandmother, several of us traveled to the hospital to pray for the young girl.  In her hospital room, we asked Jesus to astound the doctors with healing.  I received an excited call from her grandmother 3 days later.  “From now on, I am a believer in prayer,” she exclaimed.  “They were going to send her to a nursing home on the day you all came, and now she is up walking and they are sending her home tomorrow!”

We are grateful for a God who hears prayer and responds.  We are thankful for the restored life of this young lady!


-- Suzanne Wallace

Oh Well!

If we put the victories on our blog, I guess it is only fair to also post the less than glorious events.  Last week was the worst-ever “Big WOWs,” which is the middle school / high school girl’s Bible Study.

I thought it was a fairly simple concept...and an encouraging one.  I explained about when we receive Christ as our Savior and Lord, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us to empower us to obey the commands of God.

After the first explanation, I looked up to see every set of eyes giving new definition to “a deer in the headlights.”

“Do you understand?” I asked.  Every head shook a slow negative response.  “Ok,” I continued, trying to add a chipper tone.  “Let me explain it another way."

The second round offered no improvement on the zombie stares.  At this point I got animated, desperate to rouse them from their clueless stupor.  I ended with a terse, straightforward summary.  “Here is my point.  The Holy Spirit of God comes to live inside you when you receive Jesus to help you do what God wants you to do.  Ok.  Who can tell me what my point is?” An eager hand raised, along with my hopes that the simple truth had finally soaked in past the braided hair.  “It’s good to read the Bible,” the hand raiser said, with a smile of accomplishment.

“I have a good idea,” I responded. “Let’s go eat pizza.”

You win some.  You loose some!

-- Suzanne Wallace