Cartwheeling in the sanctuary: What the love of God can make us do

“If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.” - the Apostle Paul paraphrasing the prophet Jeremiah in 1 Corinthians 1

Yesterday was a great day in the house of God at the corner of Leonard and 8^th in Chetek, Wisconsin for all the usual reasons. For starters, the people of God came together as they normally do most Sundays of the calendar year (from time to time we have been known to “shut down” and worship elsewhere) in our mutual love for the Lord Jesus and for one another. We were led in worship capably. The altar was full and members of the Body ministered lovingly toward one another. The message was or at least I'm inclined to believe life-giving. When we dispersed into prayer circles (random groups of 4-6 people who simply pray for one another or for other needs), there seemed to be far more praying than sharing. And then Greg, a massage therapist and member of our fellowship, presided over communion and led us to the table. For all these reasons – and many others – I love being a part of this fellowship and grateful that for the last twenty-four years they have continued to extend the call to me to serve as their pastor.

                           A few pics from yesterday's gathering

Jim and Jessica

But what made yesterday's gathering special to me is something that actually happened spontaneously during, of all things, the sharing of announcements because it was during that time that one of our thirty-something guys cartwheeled – twice. Here's the story. Jim and Jessica are a couple in our fellowship whom the Lord has graced with a couple of boys one of whom is in college and the other in high school. A number of years ago, however, Jim and Jessica chose to adopt a set of preschool triplets from Columbia and immediately their small family essentially doubled in one day. Two years ago, Jim and Jessica created a bit of stir when they made the decision to leave their good life in the north woods and move their family of seven to Guatemala sensing the Lord's leading to help establish an orphanage there. This past spring they returned to life in this neck of the wood having stayed long enough to see the project through to its completion. They expressed the desire to adopt again but this time domestically at “some point in the future.” As it turned out, that vague point on the timeline suddenly became crystal clear and this past Fall Liam became a Hanson.

Their family earlier this year

Enter Liam

As anybody knows who has been down that road, as great a thing as adoption is, it's not for the faint of heart both emotionally and financially. Not only does a family have to make room at the table and in their lives they also have to pony up and pay, in their case, $12,000 in matriculation and “handling” fees (my words not theirs). That's no chump change and given that they recently returned to the US and Jessica cannot work outside the home right now, the weight of that 12K is substantial.

The aftermath of Katrina

Of their own accord, a number of young girls in our fellowship who are mostly elementary students (with one Middle School exception) decided they needed to help. This past weekend they got together at one of their homes and busily made a number of craft and food items to sell in the entryway of our facility this past Sunday. Their generosity made me think of how in 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a bunch of 5^th graders from our neighborhood, our daughter, Emma, among them, galvanized them to action. Keep in mind, the media was reporting the need for billions with a “b” in aid for New Orleans alone let alone the rest of the Gulf states affected by Katrina's wrath. A guy like me heard that little factoid and was immediately deflated from even contributing a widow's mite to the kettle. Not our daughter, Emma, and her girlfriends. They heard a call to action.

Okay,  this is some of them - minus the clown make-up

They put their heads together and came up with a plan: they would sell lemonade, they picked whatever apples were left on our tree in the backyard and would sell them, they all went to their bedrooms to look over their things and pooled whatever fifth graders are willing to part with (and their parents allow) for a greater cause, they drew pictures and colored them and the  coup de grâce, they would do cartwheels, if so asked, for a quarter a piece. At the time my thought was, “Aw, isn't that sweet.” But these girls were determined. They did not see their efforts as nothing, a little service project to wile away the hours of their last week of summer vacation deserving of a pat on the head. There were real people involved on the other end of this and they felt compelled to do something to help them. And did. Remarkably, this small posse of fifth graders, raised over $200 at their little lemonade-garage-apple-picture-and-cartwheel-for-a-quarter sale. A woman who was a part of our fellowship at the time was so moved by these “little” kids doing such a great thing she matched whatever they raised and a short time later over $400 was sent to my cousin whose relief agency was one of the many NGOs involved in bringing relief to that part of the world at that time. That's $400 more than I or our fellowship sent.

Emma always had a project she was taking on

Now, back to the story. Yesterday, during announcement time, I asked Emily, the ringleader of this little gang, to come up and explain to everyone what they were doing and why they were doing it. Of course, Emily is a sweet girl but more importantly she and her girlfriends are lovers of Jesus and wanted to help Jim and Jessica with their situation. When she went back to man her table, I shared extemporaneously about how their act reminded me of what Emma and her neighborhood gang did back in '05, including the bit about cartwheels, and that's when the magic came.

Kale with daughter, Lara

Kale is a guy in our fellowship who everyone knows for his sense of humor. I've known him since Middle School days when he went by the moniker of “Bubba.” Now he's 32, happily married and father of three. Apparently that little quip about Emma doing cartwheels for hurricane relief was too juicy to leave alone and quite spontaneously he announced that he, too, would be willing to cartwheel for the Hansons but instead of a quarter he would charge $5. Whether he intended for it to happen or not, the bait was set and just like that Austin, who was sitting a few rows behind Kale, dug into his pocket and proudly held up a $5 bill. I had thoroughly lost control of the gathering for the time being. To his wife's chagrin, Kale couldn't resist the dare and with a lot of fanfare he began to stretch and prepare himself for his obligatory cartwheel.

They've since added one more girl to their nest

Almost as happy as those guys

I think I will remember forever the amazing juxtaposition between the cheers and catcalls of the congregation egging him on and his wife's look of fear that having recently goofed up his knee by some stunt at the office he was now going to break his neck. But there are some dares worth attempting and just like that before all of us he performed a perfect cartwheel made all the more amazing by the fact he is a man who must be at least 250 pounds. The hoots and hollers that followed were (almost) as joyous as the ones Aaron Rogers and the Packers celebrated last Thursday night following the “Miracle in Motown”. But there's more. Having heard Kale's announcement about his willingness to risk life and limb Lois, a grandma among us, hurriedly began rifling through her purse in search of a fin and totally missed his first cartwheel. At which point, this beloved saint got out of her seat and ran up to Kale and begged him to do it again for another $5. How could he say no? And once again he performed a perfect cartwheel to the loud acclamation and huzzahs of the congregation.

Now here are some world-changers

Those elementary students raised $130 yesterday for Liam's adoption fees. And with Kale's help, Jim & Jessica took home ten dollars shy of $150. Not bad for a bunch of kids (Kale included). It's not the first time someone's cartwheeled in our service. In my early years, a young girl who had severely broke her arm in the spring chose to cartwheel down the center aisle of the sanctuary (when we used to have one) that fall at the beginning of our worship gathering rejoicing that God had healed her arm completely. That was a good day, too. I'm just wowed to be part of this group and how they continue to demonstrate through the way they choose to conduct their lives that they are disciples of Jesus Christ doing their best to glorify him. 

                                     Kale's first cartwheel

            Kale's second cartwheel because Lois missed it