Olympic Fever

While I don't live near British Columbia, I do live in Canada, where folks have developed a serious case of red mitten fever since last October. The brainchild of an Olympic fundraising committee, warm and fuzzy red knit mittens with "Vancouver 2010" embroidered on the top and a white maple leaf sewn into the palm are being sold for $10.00 a pair across Canada. Department store clerks in this normally polite country are scared to leave the safety of the storeroom when asked to deposit a pallet of mitts to the sales counter, lest they be run over by shoppers seeing red, and by the time the torch leaves Olympic stadium, organizers predict that over three million mittens will have been sold.

The Olympics have that effect on people. In 1996, when our daughter Steph was 7, she became enamored with American gymnast Keri Strug. While we had reservations about Steph's body type being suited to gymnastics (she's now 6'2"), she earnestly began cartwheeling around the kitchen, somersaulting down the hallway, and vaulting over the coffee table. She even insisted on wearing a tensor bandage around her ankle a la Keri. None of this surprised my husband, Ron. After being mesmerized by the '76 Olympics in Montreal, he and his brother Doug lugged an old mattress into the backyard to create a  high jump mat, used the lawnmower to carve a running track in the grass, turned their farmhouse veranda into a winner's podium, then invited friends and family to compete against them. Steph, Ron, and Doug are no different from millions of kids across the world who become passionate and inspired about something after watching their heroes in action. The folks at Wonder bread know that and created a commercial about it.



As children's ministry leaders we are also perfectly positioned by God to inspire our kids. While most of us have never driven a bobsled or attempted a double-lutz on figure skates we all know the power of God. We can get excited about what God has done and continues to do as we "wonder" into stories from Scripture and share our own stories with our kids. Last week as I taught the story about the showdown on Mount Carmel (KC Year 3, Unit 5, Session 2), the kids hung their story props on the wall and whispered "but nothing happened" on cue each time the Baal worshipers called out to their god. When we came to the part where God's power "zapped fire on the altar, licked up the water, and burned the bull, the stones, and the ground until there was nothing left" their jaws dropped. Getting down on our knees like the people in the story and shouting "The Lord is God!" was more powerful than a podium of athletes singing the national anthem.

This week as you lead your kids, catch the fever of following God and spread the excitment. Like red mittens, it's bound to be contagious!.