Rivkids

This week Grooving Dan taught on being a link in a chain meaning becoming a follower of Christ and then helping other people become followers of Christ and serving. I thought a lot about my links in my chain.

Joey
Pat M.
Noel
Steve
Kate M.
Chuck W.
Reta C.
Trenda
Tami

Then, I thought about how much time I had put into someone else. Tougher question. I wonder if I am in someone else's chain.

The other part of this was about service. I was too overwhelmed by Riverview at first. I sat in the same spot every week (far left side facing the stage...in the frontish). I remember Kate asking me to sit with her on the far right side. No way. That was foreign land. Sometime in October of 2004, I started really talking to Suzanne and Shanna. I wanted to volunteer somewhere but I wasn't good with kids and didn't know anything about coffee. After a service where Noel asked us how we were giving back, I signed up as a floater. This meant I floated from classroom to classroom and helped the teachers with any needs. That lasted one service because I was asked to be a helper in a room. This meant that I wasn't teaching kids I was only helping the teacher. I stayed in this role for many months. It helped me get used to kids, how to interact with them, how to pick up their colds.

One day, the teacher didn't show up. I was the teacher. I taught the kids some stuff from the lesson and then we drew pictures on the dry erase board. I loved it. They loved it. From that point on, I was the teacher.

And now? I signed on to keep teaching with Rivkids. I have an awesome co-teacher and we have a well run system. I teach the lesson. I discipline. She comforts them and knows their first and last names. Michelle and I love it. This is crazy when I think about how I didn't want to work with kids, how uncomfortable I was around them. I went into a scary zone and now the scary zone is being without it.