Forgive a Wolf for Free

The church that I work for is right in the middle of a huge capital fund-raising campaign titled, “Realizing the Vision.” The funds raised during this campaign will enable us to build a much larger Sanctuary and provide us with some much needed meeting space. The children in our Children’s Ministry were invited to participate in a poster contest where they were asked to illustrate how they have “Caught the Vision.” The posters are currently on display along the walls of the Sanctuary and I stop to take a look whenever I pass by. The artists range from 1st through 5th grade. Most of the posters contain similar suggestions for raising money by cutting back on meals out and Starbucks, walking dogs, washing cars, etc. But there is one particular poster that has caught my eye.

The artist is a little girl named Kate, who is in third grade. I do not know who Kate is, but she has drawn a very colorful poster filled with ways to save money, such as cleaning up the playground yourself and not buying birthday party decorations and good bags. But the thing that really puzzles me is a picture of what looks like a sheep, standing up on its hind legs, holding a sign that says “Forgive a Wolf for Free.”

I stop and stare at the poster trying to figure out just what little Kate means. Not having found myself in the position of needing to forgive a wolf, I was not aware that there is any cost involved in doing so. Do wolves need forgiving? How much does it cost? And who exactly would be the one charging the money? Is there a Wolf Forgiveness Council (WFC) that would be willing to waive the normal wolf forgiveness fee and instead donate it to our building fund? These are questions that may never be answered.