Ohlin's Outside the Box: Believe

I was challenged last Saturday during our weekly Neighborhood Kids Outreach (NKO). It is an event where we reach out to the kids in the community around our largest school, Logos. Each week anywhere from 120 - 320 kids from the neighborhood surrounding the school come onto our school grounds from 1 - 3:30. We divide them in 2 or 3 groups, depending on numbers, and have them rotate between Bible/English lessons, soccer and pool time. By far, the highlight for the kids is their time in the pool. These children rarely, if ever, have the opportunity to swim...especially in a real pool. Consequently, we try to avoid cancelling the swimming time at all cost. However, at times it becomes necessary, for safety purposes. to keep the kids out of the pool.

Well, that's the decision we were facing last Saturday. We had the kids divided into 2 groups. I was in the pool playing with about 50 kids and my friend Sato, the Cambodian man who oversees the activities each week, was helping out with the Bible/English time. During the first rotation of kids in the pool, the clouds started to move in and the sky darkened. As time passed, we began to hear rumbles of thunder and I was certain that the second group of kids would have to miss their swimming time. "That is such a bummer for them", I thought. "Oh well, nothing we can do now."

30 minutes later, the rain never started and the thunder kept quiet. The second group of kids had been in the pool for about 15 minutes already and still had about 20 left. "How cool, I can't believe the ran held out", I thought. I got out of the pool and went over to talk to Sato to ask how things were going for him and to make sure that everything was running smoothly. He said things were going great. Then, with a big smile on his face, he told me about the second group's Bible time. He said that the kids that were going to swim secod were concerned that their pool time would be cancelled. Instead of resigning himself to the fact that it would rain and we would have to cancel, Sato believed that God was in control of the weather and that He could and would hold the weather off so the kids could swim. He then lead the kids in a prayer asking God to hold off the rain and then they sang some praise songs.

Well, the second group of kids did get to swim for their entire time. And, despite the fact that this may sound like a Hollywood ending, literally as the gate closed when the last child left the pool area, drops began to fall. I was so surprised...but then not. God is in control and it took my Cambodian friend and a group of 50+ Cambodian friends to remind me of that...to remind me to believe. That encouragement came at just the right time as God knew I needed the push to believe Him for something big this week. It is so cool when God uses unexpected sources to teach us profound lessons.