The elusive vest, finally earned

Jack has been taking part in our church's Awana program since last November. The program has its participants memorize Bible verses, and the kids receive vests and patches after they memorize a certain amount of verses. Jack had no problem memorizing the first three verses to get his vest, but for some reason, he was struck with a kind of stage fright (imagine that--Brian's kid? Stage fright?!) when it came to actually reciting them to his teachers. So, since November, he's been showing up vest-less to Awana. In spite of all the other kids wearing their vests every week. In spite of his best buddy Gabe, who joined Awana months after Jack did, having earned his vest back in January! Every week Jack would tell us he'd say his verses to his teachers, but every week he would clam up. We tried bribing him with ice cream, trips to Carl's Jr., or craft projects... but nothing worked. Finally, last night, after having skipped Awana for several weeks (due to sickness and trips out of town), Jack decided to say his verses. I showed up to pick him up, and he was WEARING HIS VEST! All three of his teachers came up to me separately to tell me. I think they were just as proud--and surprised--as I was.