Coloring outside the lines

     Yesterday at Compass Point my wife and I were in the nursery. Alot of people I think are scared to watch kids or alot of times don't want to have the frustration of being a babysitting service. I on the other hand look forward to it and love donating my time so that someone else can receive something from God easier than having a screaming kid next to them. With that being stated I will explain on a revelation that I was shown yesterday by a four year old boy named Ben.

     Ben is not a typical four year old at least not from what I was shown yesterday. Ben is a kind-hearted, intelligent boy who is beyond his years as far as reading and mental capabilities. After he had completed every puzzle that we own (which was about 15) I was thinking ok what can I do to entertain this super-genius. I asked him if he wanted to color a picture for his father, and he responded, " Sure but when I finish I want to do another puzzle." He quickly chose a picture of a pretty cool looking dinosaur and started coloring. Me being the artistic nerd that I am went through the gallon sized ziploc bag and chose a bunch of colors that in my mind resembled what a dinosaur may have looked like. I laid them next to Ben and told him that he could use them to color it. (At this point Ben had selected a red crayon and had started coloring.)  Ben responded, " No the only color I need is red, it is enough." I looked at the picture for a second and almost responded with something like, " Well it would be more realistic," or something like, " Ben, a dinosaur actually looks like," but I stopped myself. I realized that what he was saying was totally correct.

     Sometimes in life we try to stay so in line with what people think we should be or look like what we do just to please others. To reach some people in this life you must color outside the lines. You must do something different in order for them to grasp what is being told to them. What Ben said wasn't wrong but it was the way he wanted to do things, which is completely ok it was his picture. It is not our job to stand around and supervise people's decisions on how to disciple, we just simply must meet them where they are at. Coloring outside the lines is beautiful, and so was the red dinosaur that Ben colored for his dad!