A major fault of mine (and perhaps of many others since I don't want to be marked alone here) is to forget that each person we encounter is special, unique and has potential for great influence.
Sometimes we get a powerful reminder that no one whom we encounter is "ordinary".
So, little did I know what kind of amazing person was within the little auburn-haired girl with the dreamy, clear, blue eyes who made her way through the Vacation Bible School that was held annually by the church we formerly attended. I do remember that I was deeply struck by her rapt attentiveness during class time.
Where others listened, Ann heard. While others gave answers to questions, Ann spoke in concepts. Ann was precocious in the truest sense of the word.
Many who work year after year in VBS activities may justifiably wonder at the outcome of their labors. I have. Often. Selfishly questioned whether there was any fruit. Wanted numbers, I guess. Numbers are solid - you can see the "growth", right?
Wrong.
I didn't see or hear very much of Ann since she sat in our Grade 6 class where the Herald Press Series book was entitled "The Life Of Christ" and retold the stories of Jesus' birth, life, death and resurrection. My favorite class to teach for that reason. And Ann soaked it up like water poured on the dry, desert sand.
It was actually her mother whom I re-met about twenty years after Ann progressed through that VBS. As she held our hands at my mother-in-law's funeral visitation, we rehashed bygone VBS days and her children's participation there.
"It was because of that Bible School that . . . our family came to faith . . ." were her words. I was struck dumb. Yeah, I know, that's hard to do to me!
The questions I had in my mind about outcomes, numbers, obvious progress - whatever you want to call it - were vaporized and I was instantaneously, deeply humbled - no, humiliated - by the staggering truth that my desire to see tangible outcomes in a relatively intangible work was based in pride and selfish arrogance.
What a myriad of lessons - that any assessment of our work for the Kingdom must be left to the One who can see it all; that we must treat every human that we encounter like the special person that they are; that we are mostly incapable of knowing a person's potential.
Ann went on to university studies and married a farmer with whom she is raising a family of six children.
But Ann is also a writer. She wrote a geography text book and writes a daily blog at http://www.aholyexperience.com/
She also wrote a book entitled "One Thousand Gifts". It recently made #7 on the New York Times best seller list. In it, she tells how her life was changed from one of anxiety and fear to one of joy, simply by seeing how the experiences/things/people in life are reason to give thanks and how that becomes a catalyst that transforms them into joy.
All this, after having suffered horrible, life-altering loss as a child . . .
You can read a few pages of it on this link from Amazon. Take a look and prepare to be amazed.
http://www.amazon.com/One-Thousand-Gifts-Fully-Right/dp/0310321913?ie=UTF8&tag=holyexper-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969#reader_0310321913
http://www.aholyexperience.com/ann-voskamp/
Sometimes we get a powerful reminder that no one whom we encounter is "ordinary".
So, little did I know what kind of amazing person was within the little auburn-haired girl with the dreamy, clear, blue eyes who made her way through the Vacation Bible School that was held annually by the church we formerly attended. I do remember that I was deeply struck by her rapt attentiveness during class time.
Where others listened, Ann heard. While others gave answers to questions, Ann spoke in concepts. Ann was precocious in the truest sense of the word.
Many who work year after year in VBS activities may justifiably wonder at the outcome of their labors. I have. Often. Selfishly questioned whether there was any fruit. Wanted numbers, I guess. Numbers are solid - you can see the "growth", right?
Wrong.
I didn't see or hear very much of Ann since she sat in our Grade 6 class where the Herald Press Series book was entitled "The Life Of Christ" and retold the stories of Jesus' birth, life, death and resurrection. My favorite class to teach for that reason. And Ann soaked it up like water poured on the dry, desert sand.
It was actually her mother whom I re-met about twenty years after Ann progressed through that VBS. As she held our hands at my mother-in-law's funeral visitation, we rehashed bygone VBS days and her children's participation there.
"It was because of that Bible School that . . . our family came to faith . . ." were her words. I was struck dumb. Yeah, I know, that's hard to do to me!
The questions I had in my mind about outcomes, numbers, obvious progress - whatever you want to call it - were vaporized and I was instantaneously, deeply humbled - no, humiliated - by the staggering truth that my desire to see tangible outcomes in a relatively intangible work was based in pride and selfish arrogance.
What a myriad of lessons - that any assessment of our work for the Kingdom must be left to the One who can see it all; that we must treat every human that we encounter like the special person that they are; that we are mostly incapable of knowing a person's potential.
Ann went on to university studies and married a farmer with whom she is raising a family of six children.
But Ann is also a writer. She wrote a geography text book and writes a daily blog at http://www.aholyexperience.com/
She also wrote a book entitled "One Thousand Gifts". It recently made #7 on the New York Times best seller list. In it, she tells how her life was changed from one of anxiety and fear to one of joy, simply by seeing how the experiences/things/people in life are reason to give thanks and how that becomes a catalyst that transforms them into joy.
All this, after having suffered horrible, life-altering loss as a child . . .
You can read a few pages of it on this link from Amazon. Take a look and prepare to be amazed.
http://www.amazon.com/One-Thousand-Gifts-Fully-Right/dp/0310321913?ie=UTF8&tag=holyexper-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969#reader_0310321913
http://www.aholyexperience.com/ann-voskamp/