Somebody invited you to what?

Over ten years ago, when my oldest children were invited to Awana by some friends, I didn't share their enthusiasm. In the first place, I hadn't ever heard of Awana. When they told me it...

Over ten years ago, when my oldest children were invited to Awana by some friends, I didn't share their enthusiasm. In the first place, I hadn't ever heard of Awana. When they told me it was a club for kids where you play games and memorize verses, several thoughts ran through my head. It was at a church 30 miles away from where we lived. It was on a school night. I had a newborn and was plenty busy. We were already going to church and Sunday School, and we used Christian curriculum for school. Why did we need anything else?

However, my good friend was taking her kids every week anyway and was willing to take my two along. The kids really wanted to go, and I certainly wasn't going to stand in the way of them memorizing Bible verses! After all, I'm a Christian! How would that look if I didn't let them go?

So it began. I would drive them ten miles to our friends' house, they would all trek to the church together, and I would drive back to town to pick them up when it was over. The drive home each week was filled with "we did this" and "we did that". I tried to sound interested but it was just one more thing in my busy schedule. Knowing what I do now about Awana, it sounds terrible that I wasn't more enthusiastic about it. Once in a while one of them would ask me to listen to their verses. I was impressed with how well they were doing, but still didn't take an active role. I figured this was their thing and I'd just let them do it on their own.

I can remember one night when my daughter came home with a toy. When I asked where it had come from, she told me it was store night and she got to pick whatever she wanted from the store because she had memorized so many verses. Now I was concerned that she had misunderstood, because nothing is free. She assured me it hadn't cost her anything, and that her brother got a candy bar for his verses. They both assured me that this was true, but I was still skeptical. I cringe today at the attitude I had back then!

It would make a nice story if I said something like, "I decided to visit the Awana group one evening and was so impressed that I went back every week to help out with this amazing ministry!" That's not quite how things turned out though. I did go to the Awards Banquet and was warmed by so many leaders standing up to talk about the kids in their individual groups. They told how well the kids had done in their handbooks, gave them awards, and told the kids how much they had come to care about them. As I looked at the display tables of two graduating seniors, I could imagine how proud they were to have received so many awards through the years, and couldn't think of a greater way to achieve them than by hiding God's Word in their heart.

Several years later, someone in our own church presented the idea of starting an Awana Club. Everyone was excited and the turn-out of adults willing to help was amazing. You would hardly recognize me these days, with my gray shirt on, sitting in crowded rooms, sometimes on the floor, listening to girls recite their verses, encouraging them to work hard, and even doing some memorizing of my own! Why, I've even been seen playing a round or two of bombardment! I make recordings of my kids' verses so they can listen to them as they fall asleep at night. I type them in giant letters and hang them around the house. I guess you could say I'm completely sold on Awana now! Young lives are being changed because of adults who care enough to give them what counts the most - God's Word in their heart.

~ An Awana parent and leader