ROOTS AND WINGS

"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children, one is Roots, the other is Wings!" ~ Hodding Carter

--------------------

This is one of my favorite quotes and today, I think, marked the beginning of both. Tonight at church, all interested parents registered their children for AWANA. The name - Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed - is derived from 2 Timothy 2:15.

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15

AWANA is a 40 year old program, that meets weekly in churches nationwide to teach children ages 4 - 12th grade about the wonderful word of God! It focuses on building a good foundation through scripture memorization and biblical teaching via interactive learning activities. This is another answered prayer.

I love the Lord's faithfulness to His Word. If you read this post, you know my heart sank when Chase learned there was no group prayer before eating at school. I have been longing to have him in a more Bible based learning environment (i.e. Christian private school), but we have encountered some personal challenges around the execution of this desire - commute, costs, no vacancies at certain schools - to name a few; and then came AWANA.

"If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it." John 14:4

During the course of my prayers about this over the past few weeks, came the announcement in our church bulletin. AWANA meets one night a week, and focuses on a set, age-appropriate curriculum, running parallel to the school year. Chase has already learned a tremendous amount through attending the less formal children's classes on Wednesday nights. I can only imagine what he will learn in a more formal program. We will even have the opportunity to participate, along with other member churches, in Bible Quizzes, Games & Talent Competitions. This reminds me so much of my VBS, BTU days growing up. A proper foundation is SO important as stated in the divine Book of Wisdom.

""Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

With these Roots my heart will have peace when it is time to give them Wings.

Oh yeah, an added bonus: Children who complete the entire program receive an automatic $10,000 college scholarship.