Our high school students did Bible skits for the children of Verbo Christian School in Riobamba. After the skit there was usually an activity planned. One day a class of second graders was given an assignment to draw a picture dealing with the story of David and Goliath. I was sitting on the back row with José on my left and Ricardo on my right. Our American kids passed out crayons to the children. Like all the other children, José received three crayons and began drawing a picture. Ricardo was the last student to receive crayons and since there was an abundance, one of our students gave him an unopened box. Ricardo had 24 brand new crayons! He was so excited.
But I noticed a huge difference between José and Ricardo. Without looking up, José diligently worked with his three crayons. Ricardo, though, spent the first five minutes just admiring his box. Then I noticed he kept running to other parts of the room. Our technology-savvy American kids often took pictures with their digital cameras. Ricardo wanted to be in every picture! Finally, he came back to his seat, opened his new box and gazed at the various colors inside. The craft time was coming to a close and Ricardo had not made one mark on his paper. One of our students said, “OK, time to finish up!” Ricardo then panicked. He looked over at José’s picture, pulled out a crayon and quickly tried to copy what his friend had done. At the close of the activity, José had created a beautiful picture with three colors. Ricardo only had an unoriginal sketch drawn in the color ‘gray’.
I’m sure not trying to bash little Ricardo, but he made me think. How many colors have I been given? Have I even opened my box? How often am I distracted by the things of this world that get me off task? Do I have much time left? Am I doing what I’m really supposed to be doing or am I just copying someone else? Little kids in Ecuador can raise some important questions …
“Again, the kingdom of heaven will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability…” Matt 25:14-30