This column may come as quite a surprise to a lot of you, but it’s okay to wear a different “hat” from time to time! My wife and I have just spent quite a while reliving our days as Sunday School teachers at First Baptist Church in Brownwood….Surprise!

The two year old department had outgrown the room and two teachers, Karen Loudermilk and Mr. Womack. They decided the best thing to do was to create a two and a half year old class. I had not been a Christian and member of the church very long, but long enough to have made the declaration that the adult Sunday School class wasn’t made for me and I wasn’t going back. So, my wife – behind my back – accepts the newly created class of two and a halfs. I will have to admit I didn’t take the news too kindly and flatly refused to have any part of it. However, the next Sunday, here I was, shut in a room with about five boys and girls. The trail of adventures had begun.

I was in charge of entertainment and my wife the “spiritual” part. Mine consisted of piggy back rides, cars, dolls, etc. One Sunday, Joey Ellis was happily playing in the floor and the next thing I knew he was drawing back his fist loudly proclaiming, “You spit on me”! I couldn’t imagine what had happened but assured him it wasn’t true. As it turned out, the air conditioner vent in the ceiling had condensation on it and was dripping from time to time, with one time being directly on Joey. He forgave me. My wife went a month or so with a precious little girl who never left her lap, but it was a day of a real feeling of accomplishment when she actually sat in a chair on her own to look at a book.

We decided our favorite memory of all was in the five year old department. What a crew that was! To name a few, John Ellis, Nat Nealeigh, John Woods, “Little” Bert Massey. One Sunday morning the guys were busy building a fort and playing. The door flew open and in ran “Little” Bert followed by his father.

Now you have to picture this: Bert Massey with a hat on, cigar in his mouth, pajamas covered with a long coat, and house shoes! Bert loudly proclaimed he had every intention of sleeping in that morning when “Little” Bert jumped on the bed loudly stating, “Somebody is going to get up and take me to Sunday School!” and Bert said, “ So here I am!”

When you are teaching three year olds, you always wonder if they got anything out of the story. My wife was in charge of crafts and snacks (and discipline – ha). One Sunday morning I began the class by asking if anyone remembered what we had talked about last week. Silence! Finally, one of the little girls, Anna Nealeigh, raised her hand and said, “Well, it wasn’t Bartimaous!” She was right because that was a couple of weeks back or more but I was so proud she had remembered. One other memory of a young boy whose mother brought him to the door. He came in, very pouty, stood at the door refusing to come any further. My wife went to him and knelt down. She hugged him and asked him what was wrong. His reply, “This is not where I choose to be”. We’ve since used that statement ourselves from time to time.

Then there were the Freshman. We had only one rule in that class, don’t ask any questions because I didn’t have any answers. I was in charge of the lessons and my wife the “social” part. Christmas comes around and we are going through the beginning of the Christmas story. When we get to the Immaculate Conception, a hand goes up, one of the young ladies states, “I don’t understand. Would you explain exactly how that happened?” Of course, my answer was the one I used many times, “That’s a God thing you’ll have to ask God later”…

So many great memories for my wife and I. We wouldn’t take for them and many, many more.

Until next time, so long everybody.

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‘Out of the Box’ with Dallas Huston is published each Monday morning at BrownwoodNews.com. Dallas was the radio voice of the Brownwood Lions and Howard Payne Yellow Jackets for more than 55 years. He currently is Pastor of Center City Baptist Church and hosts a Men’s Bible Study in Brownwood on Monday evenings. Your comments are welcome at [email protected].