CLEANING RASCAL’S CAGE
Valerie Rae Hanneman
May 19, 2007
Deuteronomy 13:4 (MSG) “You are to follow only GOD, your God, hold Him in deep reverence, keep His commandments, listen obediently to what He says, serve Him—hold on to Him for dear life!”
The family has a new pet – Rascal. Rascal is from the rodent family but he is way too cute to be considered a “glorified rat”. Rascal requires a lot of upkeep. It is important that he is out of his cage several times a day for exercise and because he is a social animal. By nature, he’s a clean animal, so his cage must be kept clean, particularly the litter box. His digestive system is delicate so we have to be careful what we feed him and he is on a regimen of vitamins to make sure that the inner works don’t get clogged up by hairballs. He is more work that any animal I have had but when he puts his little paws on my face and nuzzles my chin, I get all gooey inside and I know that he is worth the effort. When we first got Rascal Fawn and Steven fought over who got to take him out to play, who got to give him his treats, his vitamins, and who was going to take Rascal with them when they moved out. But they never fought over who was going to clean that cage. They wouldn’t do it. As they argued, I just smiled and cleaned the cage. Time has passed and the “new” has rubbed off Rascal. Fawn & Steven still take him out to play – but often I have to remind them to do so. I feed him his vitamins, his treats, change his water, replace his food and I am still cleaning out his cage. It is not that my children love Rascal any less- it is just that their love is best demonstrated in the “fun stuff.”
When you think of Care Fresno Kids Klub – who do you think of? Nine out of ten of you are going to say that you think of me, Valerie. The reason that you think of me is because I am the most visible person in the ministry. I’ve been with the ministry for ten years and for all these years I am the one who is usually up in front of the church talking about Kids Klub, I am the one that you see all the neighborhood kids hanging around, and during these past months I have had the unbelievable and awesome privilege of baptizing nine of our kids. If somebody has a problem with one of our kids I am the person that they come to. There is no doubt that I get all the “fun stuff” – the recognition - for this ministry.
But I am not the only one involved in this ministry. I am blessed to be surrounded by an incredible team of people in Kids Klub. Jim Sullivan leads the teams of cooks who come in every week and make dinner for our kids. Frieda Kennedy does all the shopping for our Kids Store. Norm Baird will rearrange his schedule at the drop of a hat to drive the bus for Kids Klub. Rosemary, Gramma, Kim, Lisa, Debbie, Shawn and Mikki are parents that show up faithfully to help keep attendance records up and chaos levels down. I have a whole crew of students who show up to help. And then there is Char Cole. Char has been involved with Kid Klub for several years but I bet I could count on my fingers the people in our church who know that. You see, Char “cleans the cage” for Kids Klub. Just as Rascal’s health and well being depends on me doing the not-so-fun but absolutely vital job of cleaning out his cage, the health and well being of Kids Klub depends on Char being there to do the not-so-fun but absolutely vital work of Kids Klub. Char’s work is the foundation of Kids Klub. She does the mailings, copies the flyers, sends out the cards, does the Reading Klub, cooks, shops, and still finds the time and energy to stand at my shoulder and support me when I am tired or stressed or just plain at the end of my rope. I cannot imagine how I’d function in Kids Klub without Char there with me.
For me, Char is the epitome of a servant’s heart. She doesn’t do Kids Klub for the recognition; she get’s very little of that. Char doesn’t do it because she get’s to do the fun stuff; cause she does very little of that. Char does it because she loves and serves Jesus first and foremost, and she loves those kids and she loves me. And that is a servant’s heart, to do what is vital in a ministry and to do it with love, expecting nothing.
I clean Rascal’s cage because I love him enough to do the not-so-fun work. And Rascal shows his love for me when he grabs one of my fingers, or he nuzzles my chin or any of the other ways that he shows me affection. He rewards me for my service to him.
Jesus is going to reward Char and me for our service to Him through Kids Klub. Now I don’t think that He is going to nuzzle our chins – although He can if He wants to. I don’t know what the reward is going to be. But His promise is that those who have been faithful in much will receive much. I am fully confident that Char is going to receive much from Jesus for her service to Him through Kids Klub and I think she gets much more of a reward than I do – because she deserves it. Char cleans the cage.
Some of us are called to be the visible part of a ministry. Jesus absolutely called me to the leadership of Kids Klub – to be the visible face of this ministry. I do it because I love Jesus and want to serve Him. And I do it because I love those kids and want them to know Jesus as vibrantly as I do.
Some of us are called to be the invisible part of a ministry. I know that Jesus absolutely called Char to stand beside me in Kids Klub in a place that does not receive a lot of recognition but is the foundation of the ministry. Char does it for the same reasons I do.
To those called to be the visible part of a ministry – bless your hearts – go for it! To those called to be the invisible part of a ministry – sometimes it may seem that nobody knows what you do or appreciates how hard you serve in your ministry. Jesus knows and He appreciates you more than you can possible know. You are the foundation that Jesus is building His Kingdom on. Your rewards on earth may not be much, but your rewards in Heaven are going to blow your mind! Best of all, you will get to lay those rewards at Jesus’ feet and hear Him say, “Well done good and faithful servant!” How cool it that?
LORD Jesus, I want to thank You for Char and for all those who clean the cage for the ministries they are in. They are the true royalty of Your kingdom. Bless them LORD, and when they get weary or wonder if what they do makes a difference show them how vital their service is.
Contact Valerie or sign up for the e-Ministry of Fresno First at valerie@fresnofirst.org