Aaron, my angel

I was in the woods, cold, pacing back and forth, squinting at 3×5 cards in the moonlight.

I had to familiarize myself with an hour-long speech, a speech about God and the effect prayer has on mental and physical health. I could remember half the talk, but the rest just wouldn’t stick.

I was in the woods because I was serving as an assistant Scoutmaster at my stepson’s Boy Scout campout. I only had two days to get the speech down, so I had brought it along on the campout. I was bordering on the frantic. The boys were supposed to be in their tents, sleeping; but there was Aaron.

Aaron had been labeled a trouble-maker. He seemed very needy. He was always in your face, looking for attention, talking when he shouldn’t.

“Mr. Wommack, what are you doing?” He walked up, stood too close, and grabbed the cards out of my hand. “What are these?” he asked while I did the grown-up “give me my cards back” thing.

“Notes for a speech,” I told him. He said, “I’ll help!”

My heart sank. Cold, frustrated . . . and now Aaron.

He wouldn’t give the cards back and started pacing with me. As we paced, though, things changed. He gave hints when I was stumped or he would force me to think harder, refusing to let me see the cards. And his tenacity worked. I started to remember the speech.

As we worked, Aaron would remark every so often, “This is neat stuff, Mr. Wommack.” And, “This is cool, I never knew this before.”

Then after almost an hour of pacing, Aaron sat down on a stump, looked up at me, and asked, “Don’t you think, Mr. Wommack, that the same God that gave you the ideas for this speech also gave you the ability to memorize it?”

“Aaron the problem” had turned into “Aaron the angel.” His words hit me like a brick along side the head. I had that speech down before we left the campsite.

I gave that talk many times all across America. And whenever I needed help, I thought about Aaron and the cold night in the woods. That memory frequently reminds me that I always and effortlessly express God’s intelligence, just as Aaron truly expresses God’s qualities of helpfulness, kindness, and unselfishness.

Thanks, Aaron.

This post is modified from its originally published form found at TMCYouth.com.

Find Keith on Twitter: @TexasCS
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