One of my earliest memories of life on the Ranch is so old, I see it in black and white. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of some of the details I think I recall, but I cannot forget the central character in this scene.
I was one of dozens of youngsters at a service especially for kids while the adults were in the main service in the large auditorium. One of my neighbors, a ventriloquist, held us in rapt attention as he carried on a conversation with his dummy, Alvin P. Snodgrass. The adults heard nationally known preachers while we kids listened and laughed at a fanciful conversation that only a five-year-old could fully appreciate.
I thought about that service the other day because I am responsible now for the same kind of events on the Ranch that my granddad was then. I am a father with children who are all older than I was when I enjoyed hearing Alvin P. Snodgrass and his man.
It never occurred to me as a kid that my neighbor might not have had the most “senior” post during that service time. He was a soloist with a golden voice who had blessed thousands the country over. He had traveled in revival work and had been abroad. But on that day he was working with little kids while the “main speakers” ministered to their parents.
Time has a way of changing our perspectives. Now that I help plan family camps, I can see that my neighbor could have felt slighted had he been serving self. But he was not serving self. He was serving kids, and he was serving Christ.
And today, my ventriloquist neighbor is the one I remember. No matter where you serve, don’t allow yourself to be shortsighted. You may wish to impress other adults, but you leave a lasting imprint when you serve children. When you serve kids, you are the one they will remember in adulthood.