Kids Carnival
Anytime I am involved in putting together a large event, I get really nervous. Whenever we had Esther’s Request come to town for a concert, I would not eat the entire day – not for any spiritual reasons like fasting, but because the thought of food really wouldn’t be that appealing until halfway through the event…then I’d be starving. I am constantly asking myself, “What if people don’t show up? What if it bombs? What if I forgot something big like parent permission slips? What if…What if…What if?” I work myself up in knots over what I could be doing as if it’s all within my power to do so. In so doing, I feel like the entire thing is one enormous house of cards ready for the slightest breeze to cause the entire thing to come crashing down into one disastrous mess.
You’d think I’d learn my lesson.
God has shown me time and time again that I am getting myself worked up over nothing. Sure, some events have flopped. That’s OK, though. Ministry can still go on. He has also shown me that things can be an enormous success – the Esther’s Request concerts, our Saw You at the Pole celebrations, and even the Fire Escape grand opening where we lost count at around 200 people. Numbers has never officially been the issue, but there’s always a part of you that hopes an event is well attended. It seems to justify the expense of your time, money, and energy. In spite of relying on my own time, energy, and strengths, God has still decided to show up from time to time – in both the well attended events and the sparsely attended ones, too.
Which brings me to tomorrow’s Kids Carnival…
I’ve spent a lot of time this week worrying about how many neighborhood kids are actually going to show up. We threw together a block party a few months ago and it was not attended by anyone other than our own church people – not a bad thing, but not the target audience. So, we’ve spent a lot of time and energy pulling together resources and planning games and crafts to pull off a quality carnival tomorrow, and I started asking the “What if…” questions towards the middle of the week. I get a little insecure about these things, I guess.
It’s funny how God works. Yesterday at work, I told a lady, Barb, about the carnival. I knew she had neices and nephews in the area and wanted to make sure she knew about it. About an hour later, I decided to write down the information so she wouldn’t forget. An hour after that, she came to me and said a lady in the office would be glad to make copies and distribute them in the break room if I would just write down the information. God opened doors to allow another 30+ people to know about this event. While it was not my original intent for it to really go beyond Barb. How was I to know she would want to tell everyone about it? The point is, I didn’t know and I couldn’t know that. I just had to be willing to sit back and watch God at work.
Will anyone show up from work? I don’t know. I’ll be thrilled if they do. I’ll be beyond thrilled. My co-workers are a class unto themselves and they desperately need Jesus. If this carnival can be a bridge event to get just one of them interested in the new building and services we’ll be offering in October after the Grand Opening (hopefully!!), then it’s worth all of the money and time and energy we are pouring into it.
Will people show up? I have absolutely no idea. I do know that God is at work and He is asking for willing hearts to follow His lead. Christy has put a lot of time and effort into planning this. I hope her return to children’s ministry events begins with a bang and is well received by the community.
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