Faith is the Key

 

Faith is the Key
Originally published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Believe in Miracles

Keep faith. The most amazing things in life tend to happen right at the moment you’re about to give up hope.

~Author Unknown

I loved working with fourth- and fifth-graders at the lunchtime Bible Club. The kids enjoyed coming and were eager to learn. Every Tuesday, I checked in at the school office, gathered the enrolled children after they finished their lunch, and walked them across a huge football field through a back gate to the portable chapel and the teacher. After the lesson, I walked the kids back across the field to the school and then retraced my steps back to the chapel and locked the gate behind me.

We had one key for that gate, and it had never been a problem until one rainy day in March. The lesson had gone well, and the kids were back in their classrooms. After I crossed the field again, I went to lock the padlock on the gate, but I didn’t have the key in my pocket!

I searched my pockets again and then I went back to the chapel. The teacher and I searched the chapel from top to bottom. No key! I was beginning to panic. I went to the school office and asked if anyone had found the key and turned it in.

“No one turned in the key,” the secretary said, “and if you can’t find it, we’ll have to rekey all the exterior padlocks at every gate to the school for security!”

She was not at all happy with me, and I was embarrassed to tell the Bible Club Director what had happened. She did have one spare key so we could get in the following Tuesday, but I spent that week racking my brain and praying that the key would be found.

The next Tuesday, I used the spare key to open the gate’s padlock. After gathering the children at the edge of the field for the walk to the chapel, I told them that I had lost the key and had looked everywhere I could think of. “Can you all spread out along the blacktop here and look for the key on the way to the chapel? It would really be wonderful if you could help me find it. This field is the only place I haven’t searched.” The kids looked across that huge football field and the rows of heaped, wet grass left by the big mowing machine.

“We’ll never find that little bitty key. The grass is too deep, and this field is too big!” they groaned.

“Yes, the key is small and the field is big, but we have an even bigger God who can do awesome things! We have to trust Him and think positively. Will you help me and have faith?” I asked.

“Okay,” they agreed reluctantly. It didn’t sound like they had much hope of finding one small key in that big field.

“God,” I prayed, “if that key is in this field, please give us a miracle today so the kids will know how important our small problems are to you and how much you love us.”

The eight kids and I spread ourselves about four feet apart and started across the field, walking slowly and looking down. Suddenly, two little girls ahead of me shouted excitedly, “We found it! We found the key!” The small girl who had stepped on the key only weighed about seventy pounds! How could she have even felt it in the deep grass?

We all ran to them and, sure enough, that tiny key with the little plastic tag attached was nestled in the palm of her hand. All of the kids were jumping up and down in disbelief. I think they thought I was crazy when I started running around the field with my arms stretched out wide like an airplane and yelling, “Thank you, God! Thank you for helping us find the key! You are awesome, God!”

The kids watched me for a couple of minutes and then joined me in spinning and dancing through the grass piles. We all ran toward the gate with our arms wide, yelling our thanks to God. “Do we get a prize for finding the key?” they asked.

“Yes, everyone gets a piece of candy!” Usually, they only got candy for bringing their Bibles to class.

The kids burst into the chapel and shouted to the teacher. “Mrs. Stapp said we get candy! We found the key!” The teacher broke out in a happy smile, and everyone joined in a prayer of thanks, followed by the candy reward.

I don’t know if the children will remember the planned lesson from that particular day, but we will all remember witnessing a miracle in that field.

 

~ Judee Stapp