Page 17 of Wish You Faith

“Is that called playing favorites?” a girl asked.

Evan chuckled. He wanted to be Rosie’s favorite.

Rosie blushed. She moved on to the next point she had to cover in the lesson today.

“As we know, the Holy Spirit is not only our comforter, but also our teacher. He brings to mind what God has taught us in the Bible. He also guides us according to God’s will.” Rosie looked around the room but avoided eye contact with Evan. “Are you praying about something now? Let’s ask for God to show you the way.”

Four kids had prayer requests today, and it was eye-opening for Evan to hear them. One kid said that his father has lost his job and they might have to move out of state. Another kid said that he wants a baby sister but all his mom ever had were boys. The next kid told the class that his parents fought in the car all the way to church this morning.

Out of the mouths of babes…

The fourth kid asked everyone to pray for Rosie’s mom because “mommies are important.”

Tears filled Rosie’s eyes.

“Oh. I’m sorry.” He wanted to hug her right there, but the other kids got to her first. Soon they were all surrounding her, hugging her, patting her head, telling her, “Trust God, Miss Rosie.”

Evan was impressed with the faith of these children. He felt that he had a lot to learn still.

Rosie seemed to be holding back a lot in front of the kids. She was smiling the whole time even as tears streamed down her cheeks. Evan wondered how much she cried when she was alone, away from her mother and everybody else.

He wanted to be there for her in those moments. Could he? Was he strong enough to comfort her? Then again, he could only do so in the strength of the Lord.

Evan looked around for tissues and spotted a box on the folding table. He handed a couple of pieces of tissues to Rosie.

“Thanks.” Her voice was soft.

Then she steeled herself. “Mr. Evan, how about you pray for us this morning? There are four prayer requests.”

They hadn’t written any of them down. Fortunately for Evan, he had a good memory. “Yes, I will pray.”

As he did, he added a silent prayer for himself that God would direct his career. “And also, Lord, I pray for all of us here that You will protect us and guide us always. Thank You for sending Jesus to come down to earth to save our souls. In His Holy name, I pray. Amen.”

Everyone said, “Amen.”

“Let’s put our Bibles by the wall and put away all the things we took out from the shelves. Clean-up time, everyone!” Rosie clapped. She was no longer crying.

Her eyes were a bit red, and Evan hated to see her gray eyes looking sad like that.

She smiled at him. “Thank you for volunteering in our Sunday school class this morning.”

“No problem.” Evan wondered if she had compartmentalized her feelings and moved on to the next thing. It was very businesslike, but he had seen a glimpse into what she felt.

He wanted to be there for her forever.

Well, maybe not forever, but for the rest of his life on earth.

His thoughts were muffled by a boisterous rendition of the clean-up song.

“Now it’s exercise time!” a kid shouted.

“Who wants to lead today?” Rosie asked.

A resounding “Me!” went around the room.

Rosie picked a random kid. “What one exercise do you want us to do, Benjamin?”

“Jumping jacks!” The boy directed the class. “Everybody, stand facing me.”

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