Sometime this past year, I discovered that one of the musicians in a group we’d started following was named Chris Booher. The name sounded familiar.

Finally, I remembered that a lifetime ago, somewhere between 1975 through 1978, I had a child named Chris Booher in the CYC* class I taught at the Sandy Lake Wesleyan Church. In fact, that was the only child whose name I remembered! Could the person in the musical group be the boy I had in CYC?

I could have asked Chris but since I didn’t know him, I would have felt silly asking him if he was in my CYC class years ago! But I couldn’t get his name out of my mind, and I couldn’t figure out why he was the only child whose name I remembered.

Then one day from the dark recesses of my brain, I realized that if my recollection was correct, Chris Booher had received Jesus in my class! The reason I remembered his name was because after he made a decision to follow Jesus, I added his name to my prayer list and prayed for him for a long time.

Eventually, I discovered that the lead singer of the musical group, Laurie James Blackann, was on Facebook, and later, I decided to look for Chris Booher, too. He was there, so I sent him a friend request. Maybe as his friend on Facebook, I could access his personal information and find out where he was from and how old he was. That would give me a better idea whether he was the person who’d been in my class.

Chris accepted my friend request, and lo and behold, his hometown was Sandy Lake and his age at the time I was teaching was right for being eligible for CYC! Maybe I had found the little boy from my class more than forty years ago!

Taking my courage in both hands, I sent Chris a message telling him my story and asking if he might have been my former student. He responded, “I bet it was me!”

I wrote back, “My recollection is that you received Jesus in my class.”

 He replied, “Yes I did.”

I was simply filled with joy to have found a student who had received Jesus in my class so long ago. And the fact that Chris remembered receiving Jesus told me it had meant something to him. He said he went to the Sandy Lake Wesleyan Church on the hill until about a year ago and used to play in the church band! 

How amazing, not only that I remembered Chris’s name after all these years and remembered that he’d received Jesus, but that God caused our paths to cross. Often teachers work in children’s ministry for many years and have no idea whether their ministry has borne any fruit.

You might say, But he was the only one who received Jesus. What about all the other children in your class who didn’t receive Jesus? That question reminds me of a story I heard years ago:

A boy stands on the beach, where hundreds of starfish have been swept up by the waves and stranded there to die. He’s throwing the starfish back in the water, one by one, so they can survive. 

A grownup watches him for a minute from up on the boardwalk, and then yells down, “You can’t possibly throw all those starfish back in the water. You could stand there throwing starfish all night — it won’t matter.”

The boy looks around, throws another starfish into the water, and says, “It matters to this one.”

Even though Chris was the only child to receive Jesus in my classes, I think Chris would say, “It mattered to this one.” When I asked him if I could tell this story on my blog, he responded, “You are more than welcome to. I’m not embarrassed one bit.”

 Needless to say, this serendipitous meeting with Chris has been a special blessing to me, and I hope to Chris as well. Because it mattered to this one!

Heavenly Father, only you could having arranged for my path to cross with someone who received your Son in my class so many years ago. I pray that you would continue to make yourself real to Chris and give him opportunities in Your Kingdom to use the gifts and abilities you’ve given him. Amen.

*Christian Youth Crusaders