"Please, Sir, May I Have Some More?"

Oliver Twist asked this question and he got into some deep trouble. But it was his duty. The orphans had cast their lots and Oliver was chosen. So he asked the master for more gruel. More gruel! Now there are a lot of things to ask for, but more gruel? For these poor orphans in Dicken's classic novel, gruel was worth asking for. It was a basic need that gave them some sense of fulfillment. They needed it to live.

So when my son asked for more last Sunday morning, I shouldn't have been surprised. However, the nature and location of his request did not involve gruel from a nasty orphanage mess hall. It originated in a place where most people are found asking for less. It was within the four walls that many never enter which find the mainstays hoping for an early exodus. He was there, right next to me on the pew. The box had been filled in with an "x." It signified "more."

Most churches give visitors an opportunity to fill out visitor's cards. My son had picked one up. I filled out the information (name, address, et cetera). Of course there are also those sentences with a box next to them you can fill with an "x." These include such questions as:
[ ] I am new in the area.
[ ] I am looking for a church home.
[ ] I am just visiting.
[ ] I would like a visit from the preacher or a member.
[ ] I am a member of ________________________________________.

Some of these applied to us. But there was another one that also should have applied. After I had marked the appropriate boxes, my son editted the card by checking this one:

[ ] I would like to know more about the church of Christ.

Then he looked up at me and smiled, as if to say, "Dad, you forgot this one."

He was right. I am very thankful that my son wanted to know more about the church. But I am also very thankful that he reminded me that I still want to know more about it as well. Me, the preacher. Me, the one raised in the church. Me, the adult, the father, the teacher, the man. Me, the child.

I will never forget the lesson my son taught me with a simple "x" in the box. There is so much more to know about the church. There is so much more to know about the Savior. It is a life-sustaining, basic need worthy of the asking.

"Please, Sir, May I Have Some More?"

"Finally, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, you do so more and more."

~ 1 Thessalonians 4:1