She Loved To Tell The Story

Of

Jesus and His Glory

By Dick Stoddard

About twenty-five years ago, in this quaint, little New England town where I live, there was a very special little non-denominational church which did not have the outward attractive appearance of the larger influential churches in the community. It was located on the second floor above an old storefront. People could walk by without even knowing it existed, except for the sign hanging on the building above the outside door of the stairway leading to the second floor, which said "The Upper Room Chapel." Inside it looked more like a church: there was an old auditorium that had been renovated into a sanctuary, and other rooms that were fixed up for Sunday School classes.

At that time I was pastor of the little church, and one Sunday morning while Sunday School was in session, I decided to take a walk through the classroom area. I was careful not to disturb anyone; I just wanted to enjoy seeing children in a place that was good for them.

The first class I saw was a group of young people seated in a circle. I noticed they were really not that enthused about being there--they were yawning, looking bored, and seemed to be just wishing the time away. At first I thought they were the kind of kids who were just not interested in the things of the Lord, and that perhaps their parents had forced them to attend Sunday School; but as I got close enough to hear what the teacher was saying, I knew why they were so bored.

The teacher was instructing them to memorize all the names of the books of the Bible. If I had to sit in that class, I would think I was being punished. As I walked on I thought, Poor kids. I feel sorry for them. Too bad I can't rescue them.

Then something else got my attention. There was a lot of commotion coming from the section of the church where the sanctuary was. As I approached to see what all the noise was about, I remembered that was where a teacher named Gracie White held her Sunday School class. (She needed to use the auditorium because she had so many children in her class that a smaller room would not hold them.)

I had heard that children were excited about going to her class, but this was ridiculous--it sounded more like a circus than a Sunday School! I just had to peek in the door and see what was going on, and when I did I couldn't believe what I saw.

The place was filled with kids. They were yelling, screaming and laughing as they hopped around on one foot, trying to go up and down the aisles. Some were rolling on the floor; others were sitting on the floor holding one foot and saying, "Ouch, ouch!" I then looked at Gracie, who was an older woman, and expected to see her really upset at such rowdiness in her classroom. But what I saw was that she was having as much fun as the kids.

When she finally stopped laughing, she said, "All right, children. Come back to your seats." They hurried back and sat quietly to listen to what she had to say. She said, "You may remove it now." Then as the children began to take off a shoe, she went on to say, "Do you know why I asked you to put a stone in your shoe and try to walk around the room?"

By this time I was totally engrossed in the lesson, and I almost shouted along with the kids, "No, why?!" Now that she had everyone's attention (including mine), she answered, "I had you try to walk with a stone in your shoe because I wanted you to see how hard it is for us to try to walk through life with sin in our hearts! We must come to Jesus and let Him take it out. That's the only way to get rid of it; that's the only way it will go away! You can take a stone out of your shoe, but only Jesus can take sin out of your heart!" Then she went on to tell how much God loved them, and about the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross to take away their sins and give them eternal life.

I didn't realize at the moment that I was probably watching the best children's teacher that I would ever meet in my lifetime. She didn't bore the kids with line upon line things to memorize. She taught them about Jesus! After that I used to drive around town and pick up children to take them to Gracie White's Sunday School class, for I knew that she and her teachings were a gift from God.

I cannot bring children to Gracie White's class anymore because she has gone home to be with our Lord, but I have found a way to bring her class to them by publishing her Sunday School lessons in a breadbook for children and putting them on the World Wide Web.

There are a lot of kids who need to get one of these Children's Breadbooks to help them come to Jesus and know how much God loves them. If you have some children, grandchildren, neighborhood children, or know of any child anywhere whom you would like to share Gracie's teachings with, you are welcome to write to: Gospel Messenger Service, Box 331, Lancaster, NH 03584 and we will send you some as we are able.