On the 4th of July, our pastor traditionally has a big sermon about freedom in Christ. Because I wanted to give the teachers a “gift of time” I brought all our kids into a big amphitheatre for a huge program.
I thought it would be a good idea to celebrate the importance of one person doing “the next right thing”. For one hour I gave examples, sang songs, used puppets and illustrated what it looks like when one person does the next right thing. At the end, I planned a grand finale complete with sparklers behind the puppet stage to celebrate how people in America put a light in their window on the 4th of July – even though they didn’t know others would be doing it. (On the first 4th of July, the town was lit up because each person decided to do “the next right thing”.)
Then we broke out into the Happy Birthday song – singing it to America. The kids saw the big cake coming. The lights all went off and the pretty sparklers were lit for the song. The moment was dramatic. The kids were into the sparklers, music and promised piece of cake. The puppeteers suddenly found out they were afraid to hold lit sparklers. Fire was being dropped in the form of sparklers onto the floor – right beside the puppet curtains. Smoke was filling the room. Kids started choking and crying. Chaos!!!
Suddenly I realized I had an even bigger problem. If the fire alarm went off, and I interrupted the pastor’s big message, I’d have a lot of explaining to do! I yelled to all the parents who were with their younger kids to help me. We opened the one door in the room that went to the outside and had all the kids blow in that direction (It didn’t help but it gave them something to do)
Luckily for me, until I just submitted this story, our pastor never found out!
Jeannie Foss
