Not in Vain

An update on my Mark memorising- not going so well!  It seems that despite my initial enthusiasm, memorising a verse a day is beyond me.  I'm changing my strategy, and am going to attempt to set aside an hour in one day of the week to work on it.  I'm half way through chapter 1, and am amazed how much I learn by just reading and reciting these familiar words over and over.

This weekend I went to a conference on preaching.  The speaker at the seminar I attended was Peter Adam, former Principal of Ridley.  He is one of my favourite preachers, when I hear him.  But often when I haven't heard him for a while, his whimsical style and thoughtful godliness leaves my mind, and I forget to list him when thinking of who are the great preachers.  One point I found really fascinating was when he commented that great preaching doesn't have to be memorable to be effective.  He could remember several wonderful sermons he had heard through his life, but that didn't mean that the others he heard hadn't been used by God.  The aim of teaching is to change people to be more like Jesus, and that is much more important than being remembered.

But both together can still be nice.

At this conference a very familiar face came up to me.  Even his name, bouncing off his lanyard, seemed to ring some subtle bell in my mind.  He smiled at me, and said "I don't know if you remember me, but you were my Kids Club and Youth Group leader".  The name and face and context came together and I remembered.  A kid who went with his family to a church with no other kids, a very enthusiastic Kids Club kid who ended up in Youth Group.  A kid who had stopped coming and I always wondered about.  A kid I hadn't seen in probably 10 to 12 years.

He told me of the church plant he had joined.  He spoke of Kids club and of Bible Studies at my house.  I was only just an adult when I lead those studies, and often look back and wonder what they were like, since I have no memory, other than that they happened and vague visual pictures of the Bible, bits of paper and my parent's lounge-room.

I stuttered a bit, and commented on how happy I was to see him at such a conference, to see how seriously he was taking God.   I told him, "I often look back at my Youth leading days, at all those who lost interest and fell away, and feel sad".

"Don't worry" the young man said, "It was worth it".

It always is.  Praise God!
BG