By Jackson, with a little help from his mom, Jennifer
I love UPC. I have been coming since my Mom and dad felt awake enough to bring me. When I was a couple weeks old, I guess we sat in the back of the big church. I don’t remember that.
If we are on time to church, Policeman George waves us into the parking lot. Even though I know he’s a good guy—he even gave me a police sticker once—I’m still a little shy around him. If we are late, dad pulls into this special spot right by the door but he can only be there for a few minutes, so my Mom hurries my brother, Karl, and me out the door. I’m not really sure what all the fuss is about.
Now that I’m four, I’m in a very important class on the third floor. We have a special password to get in to class, wear our nametags on the front of our shirt, and even get to have choir practice after our class. I miss Teacher Jill from last year but this class is serious. We learn some pretty important stuff.
Did you know that the Israelites didn’t have time to put leaven in their bread before they crossed the desert? Leaven makes bread fluffy and it’s pretty flat without it. I really like it when I can play with the desert after the story time. I’ve been to a desert, you know. In Arizona. You can ask me sometime about my favorite cactus.
After class, I like to slide down the railing from the third to second floor. A lot of the kids do it. There are special kid rails on all these stairs. Just for us!
We pick up my brother, Karl, from his “baby class.” He’s two and isn’t really in a big kid class yet. But he likes his teachers, Paul, Sue, and Anne, very much. He has a hard time leaving sometimes. They were my teachers too when I was two. But now I’m four, remember?
I love what comes next. Snacks. Sometimes we go to Starbucks but since this last summer, we go to the big room. In the summer, Pastor Tim was making pancakes and I got to put whipped cream on them! We sometimes sit with Grandma and Grandpa and sometime with our friends.
Also, sometimes I get to come to the big church. That’s where Mom and Dad hear their story and sing their songs. They have a really big class with a lot of people. I love how loud the organ is and also the windows with all the colors. I could look at them for a long time. I was really excited that I got to come to the big church during Christmas time to watch the bigger kids light the candles.
Last year, at Christmas time, Mom and Dad snuck me in for the ‘wonder of it all’ and we ended up sitting in the second row right behind Pastor Tim and the other pastors in their blue robes. Well, I guess I got a little fidgety and started dropping pew pencils on the ground. They make a nice “tinkling” sound when they hit the floor and I guess I liked that but Mom said we had to go. We snuck out during a prayer. I’m pretty sure no one saw because when you pray, you have to close your eyes.
On the way to school this fall, I realized something, and Mom thought I should tell you too. I was talking about how school and Community Bible Study have a summer break and I told Mom, “Isn’t it great that church doesn’t have a summer break?” I think so.
– Jackson
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