Last night, Windham Christian Academy, which is the school where I teach and our youngest daughter, Rose, is in my seventh grade class, had its annual dinner / talent show fund raiser. My wife, Sue and I went with Rose to enjoy an evening of fun and fellowship.
The food was terrific: a parent of another student is an executive with Famous Dave's Barbeque, so we had shaved pork, bbq beef and chicken breast, along with macaroni and cheese, potatoes and corn bread. Famous Dave's signature barbeque sauce is known as "Devil's Spit", and it lives up to the name. The dinner itself would have been enough to make a terrific evening.
Peter, my juggling partner from the early to mid 1990s, was there to cheer on his little sister who sang in the show. A flood of memories came back when I saw him, and I realized I'm still telling some of the same jokes I did when he was working with me. (Peter was our oldest daughter, Jo's, first crush. She was two.) We also got to see another one of my favorite jugglers, Lauren, who introduced us to her new boyfriend, Brady. What a nice guy; Lauren deserves a great guy.
The show started after dinner, with students from grades 4 through 12 performing skits, juggling, dance, singing, and instrumental pieces. Rose did not perform last night, preferring to hand out with her friends and cheer on her classmates who were in the show. A fifth grader named Brianna did a beautiful Irish step dance, two high schoolers - Brandon and Lucy - did a guitar and vocal performance, and one of my students, Meira, did a beautiful version of the worship song "Oceans". She's new to the school, and to the world of church, and it was wonderful to hear her sing. (She's actually sitting on the couch in our living room with Rose right now!)
but the highlight for me was another student in my class, Isaac. He did a juggling routine with fruit, ending with eating a lemon as he juggled it. The best part, though, was after his routine. He spontaneously took the microphone and told the audience about an accident he saw on the way to the show. Then he led the audience in prayer for the people involved in the accident and the rescue squad. Isaac is just a typical 13 year old boy, but he clearly was moved with concern and compassion.
II was asked to do three routines while the judges tallied the votes of the winners (Meira came in second, and Isaac won the judges choice award). As I was wrapping up my portion, I told the audience that Isaac demonstrated what it really means to be a Christian juggler. You don't have to preach in every routine; A Christian juggler is a juggler who is sensitive to the leading of God to go outside the box. That's what Isaac was willing to do last night, and I am proud that he is my student.