The Westminster Messenger   

August 9th, 2012 - Volume 46 - Number 27

The following thoughts were written by Aaron Nichols, member and elder of Westminster Presbyterian Church after participating in our five evenings of Vacation Bible School ~~ Babylon - Daniel's Courage in Captivity.  Thank you to Aaron for sharing these inspiring and thought provoking words with us.

The Sad Switch

They got me!  Those darn kids did it!  I'm such a sucker!  For the last 5 nights, I've seen sparkle, delight and innate wild enthusiasm from the kids of our Vacation Bible School.  Actually, I didn't see it, Daniel did.

I agreed to play Daniel (of the Lion's Den fame) in a series of skits for VBS.  It was a week's worth of story-line, 4 shows a night.  I shared the 'palace' (stage) with our Pastor Tim Soule, as the over-the-top, comic-relief, high chief of staff, Ashpenaz.  It truly was the highlight of my day to interact and enjoy the responses of our little friends...full belly laughing, screams of delight, shrieks of terror, stunned wonder, and hugs and hugs and high fives! 

What really gets me is this:  They could see that I was just Aaron, and that we were in a regular room in the church.  Our costumes were basic, we barely rehearsed.  We couldn't hide the big TV screen that we used to show the script (so we didn't have to memorize).  Sometimes the 'surprise' entrance was foiled by sharp eyes looking out the crack in the door.  Not everything was perfect, in fact, far from it.  Yet the 80 or so 4-9 year olds let this world of the palace and Ashpenaz and Daniel and Prayer and Lions and the Love of God completely engulf their reality for the 18 minutes (or more) that they were with us.

So when do we switch?  When do we lose that?  I first heard from Dr. Wayne Dyer that the word 'enthusiasm' has roots in the Greek version of 'entheos which means, 'having God within'.  Wow.  That is EXACTLY what I saw all week long in these little kiddos.  They were Full of God!  They were rich in Spirit!  They overflowed with 'Entheos-iasm'!!

A few examples just for fun:

One night, a little girl, flat out guffawed at almost ANYTHING that was said.  She just cackle-laughed and cracked up at everything!  She also hugged me every time she left.

On the night we focused on fears, a Bunch of the kids answered that they weren't scared of Anything!!  The tribe leaders would offer up common creepies, like snakes and spiders as possible reasons for fear...hmm, wonder where we get that??

On the night of loneliness, they were somber, and honest, and almost everyone admitted to having lonely feelings, in front of their friends, out loud, with sincere hearts.

Sometimes they had serious questions about the story they just couldn't hold in.  They shouted out, they got involved, they cared.

And on our 4^th night, as Ashpenaz arrested me for praying to God, during the king's ban on it, the whole group turned on him!  They were shouting "Meanie!!", "We Won't Pray to Your King!", We'll Only Pray to God!", when he explained that they would be thrown to the Lion's Den????  They Yelled, "YEAH! We'll Go to the Lion's Den, YEAH!!!  We'

We even heard a little guy ask "Is this really real?", as Daniel was hauled off.

Wow.  That's Right.  At some point in our young little lives, we all were full of this energy, this spirit, this all-in-ness.  It's so contagious that I've been ecstatic about the experience all week long.  Yet the question I'm posing with the title of "The Sad Switch" is this:  When the Sad Switch gets flipped; in that, the switch from living enthusiastically, to living self-consciously, worried about what others think, not wanting to play along with make-believe, and being constantly aware of 'reality' instead of possibility and imagination...  IS IT PERMANENT??

I'm stating a FACT, that it's Bad.  It's Sad.  It's what keeps us stuck.  It causes our problems, it doesn't keep us safe from risk, or from truths or the realities of the world.  Our pride in our own ability to foresee problems and play it safe, or be conservative, just gives us a stagnant life of living in the bleachers. 

Those kids showed they hadn't flipped that switch yet.  They were all-out, all-in.  Even as the audience of our plays, they were living in it with us.  They couldn't help but be right in the middle of the action, on the court, they bought-in, they went there, fully present, alive!

So they got to go on a fantastic ride for the whole week.  Every kid had an adventure this week, right in our midst, right in our 'normal world.'  They know how to rise up.  They still remember, even subconsciously, that God has created a vibrant world of possibility, that we can choose to see, or choose to not see  It's up to us. 

So, Has your Sad Switch been flipped?  I remember mine flipping somewhere around 5^th grade.  The rules seemed to change.  I felt something shift.  It seemed like letting go of 'kid's stuff' and becoming more grown-up, was a good thing...Oops.

Now that I saw our more raw form grouped up and screaming, wildly laughing, and sincerely hugging Daniel on their way out the door.  I'm elated to share with you that I'll be letting that switch more easily flip back.  My tight grip on fitting-in or living properly is...well...actually...I already wore it out a couple years ago...Now I know its true value.

Homework:  Wonder and delight about something small.  There is something right now that you can see with your eyes, yet you know is too amazing to explain.  Maybe a picture of a cute little nephew, or the astounding technology that allows you to connect with people around the world, or maybe, just maybe (if you flip that Sad Switch back to original position), you can see your own self as ASTONISHING, as Beautiful, as a divine child of the one true God.  You can be entheos-iastic, about YOU!  Then the world around you smiles, it laughs, it hugs, it feels real good.

                               Sincerely,  Aaron Nichols

P.S. - Awesome THANK YOU to Debbie Soule for inviting me to play this role - She's had a profound impact on me.  She's seen a wider scope of my abilities, than I ever could have.  When someone asks you to try something you're afraid of...Take the Invitation!