This Is Why We Sign Up
by Tom Goodman
July 1, 2010

Don Young was one of our leaders for our Hillcrest Kids sports camp two weeks ago.  He wrote about his experience on his blog, and I got his permission to share it here.  It's a perfect explanation of why we accept our mission tasks.

--Tom

"I Got a Rock"
By Don Young

I got a rock. -- Charlie Brown

Earlier this week, my church had a basketball and cheerleading summer camp for 1st-5th grade boys and girls.  There were 155 kids who attended, supported by 67 adult and student volunteers.  Their roles ranged from organizers to coaches to recreation leaders to arts and crafts teachers to bible study teachers to cooks for the lunches.

I was one of those 67 volunteers, serving as a basketball coach for eleven 1st and 2nd grade boys.  My job, along with my assistant coach, was to run through an hour of basketball drills in the morning, take the kids to bible study, take the kids to lunch, run through another hour of basketball drills in the afternoon, take the kids to arts and crafts, take the kids to their recreation activity, and then finish up with the kids scrimmaging the other team of 1st and 2nd grade boys.  Every day, I went home exhausted (mentally and physically) and sore.

I would guess that almost all of the kids had a good time, although I'm sure a few of the kids attended because it was their parents' idea.  One kid in my group was sometimes difficult to motivate, preferring to sit and watch the basketball drills rather than participate.  So, my assistant coach and I tried to come up with drills that were a little more fun for all the kids and their various skill levels.

Sometimes we succeeded and sometimes we didn't, but near the end of the final day that kid gave me a gift as a thank you.  He gave me a rock.  Now, I know it was one he got from the parking lot, but he thought it looked cool and it was special to him.  And he gave it to me.

We don't always know if we're having an impact on those around us, and sometimes we never will.

But sometimes, someone gives us a rock.

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