So kids camp was last week...
Intense let me tell ya. So my last post was about how we love others and how I feel we as christians have become unchristian. But God spoke to me at kids camp like this.....
I was a counselor at kids camp, I had five boys in my cabin. Wyatt, Austin, John, Zach, and another John. Kids are amazing. So last Wednesday was the first day of camp, now mind you the only kid in my cabin i knew was wyatt and that is because his older brother is in the youth group and he has come out on monday nights to play football with the youth guys. Now Zach is a great kid, and God used him to teach me a lesson. Zach is going into the fourth grade. When we meet he was in the cabin and had his Garfield stuffed animal out unpacking his things. So the day goes on and we do some team building stuff and I still don't really know the boys in my cabin because the team building stuff is for the kids to get to know each other. So Wednesday night comes around and we have a service. Now Pastor Bill our children's pastor at Hope preaches on what a Freedom Fighter is and how we can be a Freedom Fighter for Christ. At the end of his sermon the counselors were supposed to pray for the kids. So I start to pray for Zach, and he just comes in and gives me this big hug. So I get done praying for him and he just sits on my lap and puts his arm around me. And thats when it hit. The story from Matthew.
Matthew 18
The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven
1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2He called a little child and had him stand among them.3And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
7"Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! 8If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
10"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.[a]
So Zach is still sitting on my lap and God says to me "Love like a child".
And at first that sounds really stupid, but think about for a second. Here I was, with a child on my lap who i had just meet and he was clinging to me. The love of a child. everything i could do to not cry at that moment.
But then at the end of the week one of the boys in my cabin cried that camp was over. John K cried because he wasn't going to see me or the other two boys from Hope for a whole year. John had just meet us three days earlier, and was so sad that he would not be able to see us. That got me.
Everything that I have been feeling and dealing with the last couple months brought me to that point with God for him to just whisper to me "LOVE LIKE A CHILD".
My prayer for us is that we start to realize how much like children we must become. May we realize that we must love our neighbor, and that our neighbor is ANYONE in need. May realize that Jesus does love us, and may we accurately reflect that to a world that is hurting and just wants to be loved......