My son Cameron is an interesting and entertaining person and almost everyone who knows him has some sort of “Cam story.” When he was ten, he attended a public elementary school and, at the time, they were adding on to the back of the school. The construction equipment was sitting on the playground so their recesses were very limited until construction was finished. The year prior, the basketball goals were taken down for a short time and Cameron (unbeknownst to his parents) led a petition drive to have them put back up. It worked!

And a year later, they had beautiful basketball goals that they can’t get to because of the construction.  Their afternoon recess was only about 8 minutes long and took place in the front of the school so they couldn’t have balls to play with and they didn’t have room to race (the two main things he liked to do at recess).  They did have jump ropes to play with at first but because some of the children used the jump ropes inappropriately, they lost that privilege.

Cameron considered another petition drive but knew it wouldn’t work because there is nothing the school administration could do about the rain slowing down construction. After weeks of this shortened and uninspiring recess time, a parent called to tell me what Cameron did in the face of these playground obstacles. He formed a prayer group that prayed for the first few minutes of the short afternoon recess. When he got home from school that day, I asked him what they prayed for and he gave me the look ten year-old boys give their moms following what they believe to be a stupid question and responded, “Well, we are praying for playground equipment, of course.” 

Cameron looked at the obstacles, assessed his options, and started with prayer. It’s funny because he was only ten but taught a great leadership lesson.