Wednesday, July 13, 2011

When you Hold on to stuff, and that stuff holds you back, it makes it hard to get to Jesus.

A little boy in my kids church, when asked to share about the church-camp trip he had just attended, stood up infront of the entire adult congregation and boldly said this. He’s probably less that 12 years old. I could not believe it. Believe his age. Hid boldness. And the amount of truth in that statement.
When you hold on to stuff, and that stuff holds you back, it makes it hard to get to Jesus.
I later approached that little boy and hugged him and said ‘Bill! I’m so proud of you-everything that you said up there!” His response shocked me.
I wanted to say more, but my mind just went blank. I wanted to talk about when we went on that hike, and they told us when we got to the top of the mountain, to tell something that holds us back-something we never told anybody. I wanted to talk about how we were so high up there, you could just feel the presence of God. And when all these men shared secrets nobody knew,-man, the wind picked up, and you could just feel…God.
The same day, we took up offering in kids church, and as usual, I asked if anyone wanted to pray over it. All the kids were quiet (as usual). I looked at little Bill and said, “Bill, would you like to pray?” (Just two weeks before, I asked him the same question, and he said “Nah, I don’t like praying.”) This time, he looked in my eyes, and with a genuine look said,
I don’t know how to pray over offering, but I will.
I said, “Well, just tell God thank you for the offering, and pray that He will bless it. And just say thanks for letting us learn about Him. Just pray whatever you feel, Bill.” He said "Okay." I bowed my head, prepared to pray, when I noticed something that amazed me.
Little Bill had knelt down on his knees in front of everyone and said "Uhh...God...thank you for this offering. Please bless it. Thank you for the kids church and that we can come to learn. Thank you for the camping trip we just went on. Thanks for everything. Love you. Amen."
Little Bill got up off of his knees, and went back to his seat. I sat in awe at this child. In jusst two days, his life had changed completely. And God spoke something to me.
"This is what I mean when I tell you-Have child-like faith."

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