My mentor, Jo Bevington, sent me a letter recently. I am sharing it with you so you can hopefully capture her passion for establishing God’s Word in children, and you can feel the joy she possesses in her life. Keep in mind that she is 85, never had children of her own, has been a widow for about 40 years, and had a stroke recently which has left her unable to see very well and unable to walk without a walker. The only thing she has expressed regret about her situation is that she just had to give up teaching her preschool Sunday School class because her walker was too much of a distraction and safety hazard for the children.
Dear Sheilah,
What joy it has been to talk to you on the telephone!
These are the preschool Bible thoughts I was telling you about. What joy it is to me to make me a pocket verse everyday and by the end of the day I have memorized it…..So I think what fun it would be for families of preschoolers to make their child a “pocket verse” every day. Since young children are concrete learners, the words of the Bible might become valuable to them if they carried around a little Bible thought each day.
Today was a fun day for me. Rebecca, who cleans my house, decided she wanted to learn to play piano. And it has been great joy for me to teach her. We just take time out from her work and have a lesson. I am trying to play again, even though it is very hard to see. I can only do it a short time each time I try. But the Lord is Good! I can still play.
I love you, Sheilah!
Jo
Jo’s joy, in spite of her circumstances, comes from her daily contact with God through His Word.
Listed below are some of the Bible thoughts she mentioned. If you want to see more, please contact me. Deuteronomy says we are to be ready to share God’s Word with our children as we go about our daily routine. I liked Jo’s idea of putting it on a card and giving the child something tangible to hold on to all day.
God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness he called ‘night’ Genesis 1:5
God made all kinds of trees to grow. Genesis 2:9
Love your father and mother. Exodus 20:12
A friend loves at all times. Proverbs 17:17
Everything God made is beautiful. Ecclesiastes 3:11
The birds have nests. Matthew 8:20
Help one another. Galatians 5:13
Hi, Sheilah –
I am another one of Dr. Bevington’s mentors. I met her in 1973 or 74, while a student at Southwestern Baptist Theo. Seminary. My husband and I joined Travis Ave. Baptist Church in Ft. Worth where she was the Director of Preschool Ministries. She was my field supervisor. My husband and I treasured her friendship and admired how she was carrying on after her husband’s death. I, too, learned so much from her and her sweet Christian spirit.
My husband recently retired from his “day job” and increased his hours with a Christian counseling group. That has freed up some of his time to work with some pastors to develop some church wellness ministries. This week he met with a pastor who happened to mention Jo’s name and who knew her around her New Orleans days. All of us had lost touch with her, so my husband researched her name and found that she had died in 2011. I then happened to find your videos of her on YouTube and just wanted to thank you very much for posting them.
I’ve looked at your blog some and will return to it when I have more time. I’m teaching 2-3’s in our VBS next week and am busy with my job as a behavior consultant for preschoolers who are using some challenging behavior. Jo (I knew her before she got her doctorate and her first name has a special place in my heart) helped to grow my passion for young children and their healthy development, and giving them a strong foundation in their lives for Christ.
Again, thank you and may God’s rich blessings be with your ministry.
Eloise,
Thank you so much for commenting. So nice to hear of another one that Jo so profoundly affected.
We were at seminary from 1973 to 1975 too! Just looked yall up in the Travis Ave directory and we remember your faces. So Jo was affecting us both at the same time 🙂
She was truly a gift from God to many and her influence continues as those she mentored lead others in establishing God’s Word in children.
I was blessed to get a lot of her files and intend to glean from them for my blog in the future.
God bless you in your ministry to preschoolers!