Driving around doing some errands for the church, I drove through the intersection of NW 2^nd and Jeffrey Streets. There, on the Northwest corner, I saw a sign that said, “North Park,” and then I saw a bunch of little stop signs and Yield signs and, well, I saw enough to make me turn around for a look see.

Another larger sign in the parking lot again said “North Park” but this one had two children on little bicycles as part of the logo. Having never seen such a thing, I felt a little surer about what this was, although the term “Traffic Garden” underneath that furthered the intrigue rather than clarifying it.

This is a pretend road structure built for children so that they can learn to stop at Stop signs, look and let others go by at a Yield sign, while either walking or riding a bicycle or, in the coolest of circumstances, driving a bunch of electric toy cars around (or, if you’re old like me, you can imagine those old Romper Room cardboard cars obediently following the teacher in the Fire Chief car.)

Nobody was there when I drove into the parking lot. I don’t know how long it’s been since somebody used it. But I thought it was cool, and, I suppose, a good idea. I do think there are some licensed drivers out there today that should be given a Romper Room car and sent to that Traffic Garden to take a refresher course.

That sign had more than just what I have described above. It had a bunch of rules. (Was there a Romper Room cop car?)  First rule: “Ride in the same direction as traffic signs and arrows.”  Good idea! Second rule: “Obey all traffic lights and signs.”  By the fourth one, it started sounding like “All I ever needed to know I learned in Kindergarten.”  “Yield to others and take turns.”  Number 6: “Watch out for others.”  Last one: “Have fun while learning to ride safely.”

These sound like life lessons to me. “Be nice, look out for others, take turns.”  And as I looked out over this miniature driving course, I thought that Sunday School, and Christian Preschool, is the whole-life version of this. There are rules – not “wear your helmet” so much as “obey your teacher.”  And others. But all on a scale that is safe and manageable from a child’s perspective.

I am eternally grateful to the adults who took time to teach me in Sunday School and later in Youth Group Bible Studies. I am grateful to those adults who led me in different ways while in controlled circumstances to prepare me for a world that is not always under control, and certainly often out of my control. I am the beneficiary of the “Traffic Gardens” offered to me along the way, even if they weren’t called that, or laid out for traffic specifically.

And, boy, am I grateful to the teachers that we have here at First Boca, who take their time now to prepare and deliver lessons, life lessons, Biblical lessons, music lessons for our children and adults alike. I say adults because I think we can learn things, test out things as adults here, in the controlled atmosphere of church. Those things become rehearsed tools when the circumstances demand. Deciding that God is not only omnipotent and omniscient but good, too – that’s a lesson learned at a Sunday School table that can be applied on the surgical table, just like singing “Jesus Loves Me” around the children’s table can ring in a child’s ears when surrounded by bullies at the cafeteria table.

Yes, church is a training ground for all of us, just like the Traffic Garden is for young pedestrians. I am grateful for the training grounds.

Let’s roll.

Craig

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms

and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16 (ESV)