I have loved the passage proverbs 3:5-6 since I was a boy. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” One of my Sunday school teachers, Ken Sanders, told me that this should be my life verse, and it has been one of mine since the fifth grade. A few others have also had ideas for my life verse, and each of those are kind of my life verses too.
Ken Sanders was an amazing Christian man. He was a veteran of WW2 in Europe. He raised 3 fine boys, and his wife Dorothy taught me to love hot dogs at a birthday party for Mike in their super cool underground house. Ken loved fishing and was one of the best fishermen I have ever known. But more than that, he was one of the best Christians I have known. One time, Ken bought his dream fishing pole and took the boys of his Sunday school class fishing to celebrate his new pole. On the way back, I put the fishing poles in the trunk of his car and as I closed it, I broke his new pole. I was probably 11 at the time and I was so devastated that I had broken Mr. Sanders’ new fishing pole. When I apologized to him, offering to buy him a new pole with my savings from my lawn mowing business, he refused to let me do that as he explained, “Timmy you are more important to me than a new fishing pole.” I have never forgotten that moment.
We are pushing hard to build our Sunday school because I think that every child needs a “Ken Sanders” in their life. We can get pretty distracted these days and parents periodically teaching or helping in Sunday school is not considered as important as it was when I was a child. In those days our Sunday school teachers prized the “grace moments” that they could influence our lives in a Godly way. Ken Sanders taught Sunday School because he loved his three boys (Ken Jr., Larry, and Michael) and because his dad had asked him to follow Christ on his death bed. Ken honored that by being a faithful leader to his church.
Do you want to change the world? How about making sure your kids grow up in a church family full of people willing to pour out their lives as a sacrifice to Jesus by helping to shepherd your kids? I love the kids of our church and I am patient with them because of what my teachers did for me. Dorothy Hamlin, Jessie Morris, Barbara Ingersoll, Ken Sanders, Tom Sanders, Dan Sanders, Terry Preszler, David Ingersoll Sr., Warren Hamlin, Phil Boucher, and Dick Sanders. We are in the business of building a safe and healthy community to support as many kids as we can. When I see children with the leadership skills that our church kids have, I am an optimist about the future. I am dedicated for the rest of my life to helping build the Sunday School of Washington Cathedral.
Your friend for the rest of my life,
Pastor Tim White