Student of the Week: Ian Gayer

The student of the week is Ian Gayer. In Sunday School this week, Ian offered to wait until everyone else had chosen their three pieces of candy before choosing his. When it came time to pray, he volunteered to pray for Aden in his basketball game. I am so proud of Ian and how he is becoming more of a Christ-like leader every day!

One of my favorite things about Ian is how he flings himself wholeheartedly into whatever he does. As a person who is all too often crippled by fear, there is much for me to learn from his uninhibited resolve.

Last Spring, I took the 2^nd-5^th grade ice-skating at the Jones Center. As we entered the building, we met a woman with wet hair and a towel draped over her shoulders. Ian looked quizzical for a moment, then spoke, “Huh? She must have fallen through.”

Yet, not even the prospect of breaking through the ice could intimidate Ian. He put on his skates and raced to the rink. Almost as soon as his feet hit the ice they swung out from beneath him and he crashed hard. But he didn’t stay down. With a helping hand, he hopped up and swung his legs as fervently as before. Each time he fell, he winced from the pain, smiled, and got back up. While most kids were clinging to the protection of the walls and carefully creeping forward, Ian was out in the middle of the rink, skating, falling, and rising with vigor. With each crash he did not grow more timid, but more determined.

I am like those who cling to the walls, afraid of a misstep and a fall. But I’m trying to learn to be more like Ian.

Do it Again

"Do it again." If you have been around children, you are more than familiar with this phrase.

My dad likes to play hide-and-seek with my 2-year old nephew, Silas. Dad hides behind the bed while my nephew counts. Then Silas goes seeking until Dad comes charging out of the room chasing him into the waiting arms of a third party. Amidst the shrieks of laughter, Silas chuckles out, "Do it again."

Last week my neighbors, Rachel and Evanson, came over to play in the snow. One of our favorite things to do was race down the hill on our sleds. As we sped down the slope and tumbled into the ditch, we would giggle with glee, until one of the kids would suggest, "Let's do it again." So we would carry our sleds back up the hill and slide down again... and again... and again..., until my legs grew heavy, my cheeks turned flush and my fingers were numb. As I trudged back to my house to warm up by the fire, I heard a child's voice call out, "Maybe tomorrow we can do it again."

How many times have you watched that same movie, listened to that same song, repeated that same joke, or made that same funny face only to hear "Do it again?" So you do it again... and again... and again... And each time the child squeals as if it were the very first time. For repetition does not diminish the joy the child finds in the act. What if this delight is a God-like characteristic? I love this quote by G.K. Chesterton:

"A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"' and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."

So tonight when billions of stars blanket the sky, and tomorrow when the sun peeks over the horizon, may you be filled with wonder. May you view these acts as if you were seeing them for the first time, and may your heart cry out, "Do it again." Lord, help us to grow young.