THE TEETER DOESN'T TOTTER

“They broke it,” my wife said. “Are you serious?” I said, looking at the broken teeter-totter plank. She’s great with unruly children. But even she seemed slightly frazzled by the six children she had rounded up for a church party.

Despite all the disciplining challenges, we understood clearly why we had brought the children. Our desire is that they will become our spiritual children by influencing them to become followers of Jesus. And then someday, the words of the Apostle John could become ours:  “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

A featured event of the evening was the bashing of a piñata. We were watching closely.

When the busting blow burst the piñata, it became a grab-shove moment. Even the church kids turned unruly. Our most challenging, Daniel, was in the middle of the fray. He’s a 190 pound twelve-year old hulk.

He quickly scooped up half a bag of candy. Then he guarded another sizable pile with his body like a hockey goalie sprawling on an inches-from-the-net puck.

To a girl, who looked tiny compared to Daniel, he said, “Here, this is for you.” A couple of church kids lunged once more as he fended them off. He then helped fill her still empty bag with candy from the guarded pile.

I’ll never know what teeter-tottered Daniel’s behavior from being the teeter-totter destroyer to being the role model for piñata etiquette.

Believe me, after that he didn’t suddenly turn saintly. But for us, it was a no-greater-joy moment.

Where will these children’s lives teeter-totter to? That’s unanswerable. But all of us are on one side or the other as we influence children in the teeter-totter between good and evil. Which side are you on?