Sunday night I spent a couple hours playing with sticky foam, singing "Oh Happy Day," and making elephant noises. I finally started volunteering at my church and I'm so happy to be working with the 4 year olds class. I never realized that hearing a 4 year old call me teacher and all the girls asking if they could sit by me and hold my hand could make me so happy. All that I can think is why did I not do this before?
The lesson for that night was the story of Noah and the ark. I instantly thought, "Wow, going back to the basics...who hasn't heard this story before?" But honestly, some of these kids might have been hearing about Noah for the first time. After the story, the main teacher led all of the kids in a short prayer. The sweet, innocent voices all chimed in together saying, "I love you Jesus. Thank you for taking care of me. Thank you that I can trust you. Amen!" You can't help but be moved when you hear these kids all praying. The innocence and simplicity of their prayers is precious. So many people talk about child-like faith and encourage interaction with young believers, and I'm going to chime in and agree. Studying theology and philosophy at Biola, I can get lost in the complexities of the Christian faith. Daily I have to remind myself that God is a person who wants to interact with me, not just a topic to be dissected and understood. While I am praying, "God what is predestination and how does it not contradict freewill," this child can pray, "Thank you that I can trust you." Such different prayers are heard by the same God, and I better not forget to stop and still, simply, be thankful.
The juxtaposition of incredible depth and perfect simplicity is what continues to intrigue me about the Christian faith. So even though I'm hearing the story of Noah's Ark for nth time, I can still be learning vital lessons.
Colossians in Cambridge (Torrey Cambridge 2024)
6 months ago
Good reminder... sometimes it's good to go back to the basics and remember what made us excited about Christianity in the first place. I guess there's always two responses we can have... we can hear stories and truths about God dozens of times and can either be bored by it, thinking it is overrated, or be excited by it-realizing that no matter how many times we hear these stories, they are still true and He is still greater than we can ever imagine.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm soooo happy you're working with kids now AND that you are enjoying it so much!