Lessons from being delightfully out of place....

Each Friday, my wife and kids head to a special enrichment program put on by MArCH, a home school co-op here in McKinney, TX.  Caleb and Michaela each take some fun and enriching classes while Eleanor assists the teachers.  But on this particular Friday morning my wife was feeling a bit under the weather.  Her role still needed to be filled, so Dad (yeah that means me) headed off to his first experience of MArCH's enrichment program.  

Upon arriving at the Church where the enrichment day is held, my children directed me through the set up duties which my family assists with each week.  As the signs were hung on each door and directions placed in each hall, I was impressed with the high level of organization employed by this outfit.  This became more apparent thirty minutes later when the near 500 people went about carrying on the days educational activities.

After my children headed to their first class, I went to see where I would be helping first.  This was the wild card of the day as this was my "available" time.  With terror I was assigned to the class for three year olds!  I asked the kind woman if that was "really" where they needed me, to which she assured me that i would survive the hour.  I was not so sure.

As I stepped into the 3 year old class,continuously repeating Philippians 4:13 to myself, God poured out his mercy!  The two mothers who were leading that class must have read the fear written on my face and quickly assured me that they had everything under control.  They welcomed me to enjoy the hour by taking a break.  Oh, yes, God's grace is sufficient!.  

In the next hour, I assisted in the Bottle Cap class. During the next sixty minutes, a dozen or so elementary children poured out their creative gifts in making all kinds of neat art projects.  The women who lead this class provide a fantastic environment for these young minds to expand the limits of their artistic ability!  To some this might just be another day at school, but I found it to be a great example of children learning to emulate their Heavenly Father's creative ability.

My third and final hour at Enrichment day was spent in Mathmania class.  Along with the teacher, I spent the hour working with several young boys who were learning about subtraction. The boys were  fascinated with the game we played, which was designed to teach subtraction through a story of paying a tax collector.  Impressed at the use of the story to teach math, it dawned on me that the greatest teacher ever gave his greatest lessons through stories.  If Jesus used this methodology, it is hard to argue against it's merits.

Overall, my morning of feeling out of place was actually quite fun.  I remain thoroughly impressed at the organization and dedication exhibited by March and the teachers of the Enrichment program.  As a parent, thank you for all you do!  You are greatly blessing the families of MArCH by helping us teach our children the way they should go so that over the course of their lives they will not turn from it (Proverbs 22:6).