Pottsboro 1/30-2/1/09
Carried Away
by Aaron Masai

I hate talking in front of people. I guess I’m just one of those who becomes crowd-shy. I’ve been working on appearing calm and collected, but I still tend to fidget some. I find the main problem is the fact that my brain tends to shut down. My “peace that surpasseth understanding” turns into “blah blah blah blah.”

The Disciple Now at Georgetown Baptist Church was my first opportunity to teach a group of kids directly. As the videographer, I sometimes use the sessions as a quick catnap opportunity. But it seemed like I’d have to step up my game a little and go before five eighth graders for lessons in spiritual warefare.

I remember taking a deep breath. Sitting in a chair across the living room was my partner in crime, T.J. He had never taught the material either. He was one of our volunteers, so I didn’t really expect much. My palms weren’t sweaty, but I did feel eager to get things moving. How do I start? How do I open up? What would Mikey do?

I was just about to open my mouth when T.J. spoke up. Raising his voice, he got all the kids to settle down. He then had all of us take turns saying our names. He called on one of the boys to open us up in prayer, then we dove into the first session.

Pft! I could have done that myself ...

I hate being nervous. If I can just relax a little, I know I could let myself get carried away in the task at hand, letting things flow naturally rather then be a bag of jitters and stutters. But I was too focused on the “largness” of the moment. Fortunetly I had T.J. there to get thing rolling in the right direction. One would never think that he was new to this; this let me relax a little and get into my groove.

It was a party after that. The eighth graders were some of the best that I’ve ever worked with; they were attentive and participated in discussion. They new all the answers; I wasn’t surprised to find that they were already evangelizing to their friends at school, letting themselves get carried away in the spirit whenever they opened their Bibles. T.J. and I tossed the soap box back and forth as we gave the lessons and told jokes.

Being nervous is a tiny spark in the fear bonfire. We get scared or nervous about so many things; it says a lot to the world about our faith! There comes a time when we have to step out on little more than a divine promise. Sometimes we have little authority to teach but divine purpose. Sometimes we need to let our faith get carried away -- and let it take us into God’s divine plan.

The D-Now at Pottsboro, TX, was one of the most memorable for me personally. To thoes eighth graders, I hope you never stop seeking after the Lord. I hope we can all learn to let ourselves get carried away.



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