Sunday
evening Pastor Tony stood in the foyer warmly greeting the families
and folks coming to worship the Lord and enjoy down-home style
fellowship. To stress the point, last year he put an
honest-to-goodness rain barrel right next to the podium and preached
about rain barrel rejoicin’ his grandpa would’ve been proud of.
It must’ve been just about that time that Dewey and Larado started
attending.
One
of the smaller children came through the door and shot right past him
– with a box in his hand, headed for Sunday Evening Children’s
Church on the lower level.
Every
so often other children scooted past him with empty boxes in their
hands and faces all lit up and laughing.
Tony’s
curiosity just couldn’t stand it another second. He decided he was
going to question the very next kid he saw with a box. The greetings
continued and shortly the door opened and in came Dewey and his best
friend Larado. Pastor almost did a double take when he saw them both
carrying an empty cardboard box. The young pastor asked Dewey, “What
are all these boxes for? I’ve just seen quite a number of kids
bringing them in and I sure would like to know what gives.”
In
a hasty tone Dewey told pastor, “Me and Larado are going to make a
Darla with the kids in Jr. Church. Beggin’ your pardon pastor but
we don’t want to be a minute late. See ya!” Tony thought to
himself, “OK they’re all making a Darla… so what’s a Darla?
Does she talk or sing or cook or clean? What’s a Darla do? What’s
she look like?” As he headed for the sanctuary with all his
questions and no answers, he switched off his cell phone,
straightened his tie in the mirror and set his mind on all the needy
folks he’d be facing in a minute.
As
the offering was being taken up, pastor quickly glanced at his
message notes and the text he wanted to plant deeply in the hearts
and souls of all those before him. He read them to himself again for
focus:
For
my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth
not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So
shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and
it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out
with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills
shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the
field shall clap their hands.
As
the time for the message was at hand, Pastor Tony stepped to the
podium as the sound booth video recorder was focused in on his first
statements. Tony looked into the eyes of all the young families, the
young adults, and a large group of silver haired folks, most of who
had trusted Christ as Savior even before Tony was born. He felt so
inadequate, so unqualified to advise these precious worshipers with
all their burdens and bruises.
Almost
without thinking, Pastor Tony blurted out in a stern tone, “WHO’S
RUNNIN’ THIS PLACE, ANYWAY?” Like a little child running home he
opened God’s precious word and with great tenderness read for all
to hear: I’m reading in Isaiah 55:8-12:
For
my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth
not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So
shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and
it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out
with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills
shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the
field shall clap their hands.
After
the closing of the service and thanking the many folks for joining
the service, Pastor Tony headed for the Jr. Church room where the
kids were putting finishing touches on their Darlas before taking
them home. Tony hadn’t noticed it before now that the group of
excited youngsters included several children he was just sure had
never been here before.
It
took just a minute to see what they were doing with their Darla
boxes. With a few quick answers from some of the builders it started
to come together. Darla is the fictitious name of the cardboard
desktop computer the children were making. So now it comes to light.
Each box is a homemade Darla Desktop Computer. The small children
will be learning next week how to use the computer to do fun things
with their neighborhood friends and siblings.
Darla
is no more fancy than Larado’s four-legged tongue and tail friend.
It’s a tool. It’s a tool with a computer flavor to turn grade
school and preschool children into missionaries. It is created with
almost no cutting or other dangerous operations.
