remix.

This morning was a new experience. Molly and Jill were sick, so St. Aldates was short on Children's leaders this morning. Rachel asked me to switch groups for the week to work with the 8 to 10 year olds. While I still got to see some of the kids that I worked with last week, it was a whole different ball game working with the older ones. I was with the "Christopher Columbus" team. 

When I arrived at church this morning, we set up for snacks (made juice, set out cookies and cups), prepared for the games, and for the class project. We gathered our whole team to pray before the eventful morning began. Worship was my favorite time this morning. There was a little girl named Abbey who sat in the back. She was a very quiet little girl, but very cute. During the songs she still stood solitary in the rear, however she was doing all the sign language and hand motions. I could tell that she was praising God with all her heart. This blessed me to see how the Lord is using these people to bring up a nation of believers who will in turn help others as they mature into society. 

The idea we were trying to convey and teach the children this morning is how Jesus was both fully human and God. The metaphor we used to paint a picture of this idea was "super heros". The game was like "Simon Says". Each child had to make a super hero action such as Superman, Mr. Incredible, Catwoman, Spiderman, or Elasticgirl when the caller was turned around. If they were doing the action that the caller said, they would be out. The last four kids remaining get points for their team. The kids loved this, and really had a fun time with it. 

Neal taught the lesson this morning. He created a worksheet for the children to complete in where they were given a Bible story and asked to state whether this was a fully human, superman or mix of both characteristics according to the reference. The kids are so smart here! We worked in our teams to complete the assignment, however each child worked rapidly on their own to go right through the worksheet. They would raise their hands and say what they thought about each Bible story we read and say if they thought it was a human or super hero characteristic. 

As we cleaned up the room, which looked like a tornado had run through it from all the kids, I talked with Zeda and Neal. Neal was feeling discouraged because the kids were a bit rowdy during the lesson. Zeda and I encouraged him that the Lord worked through him this morning and through his words. One little boy named Jake asked if Jesus was both human and a superhero if he would weigh twice as much. What a concept! I thought this was so neat to see how little children wrap their minds around difficult ideas in a vastly diverse way than adults do. This would be something very silly for an adult to say, but hearing this from a child made me want a faith like this. 

Next week I will be back with the 5-7 year olds, but I think the Lord worked on my heart this morning with the older kids for a change. I realized this morning as I was cleaning the dishes from snacks, preparing to leave the church, that there are many ways in which I do not place my full faith in God all the time. It's not silly or dumb to ask questions like Jake did, or to speak your mind like some of the girls in my group. It can only help you or the people around you to talk about it. Jesus told us to have "faith like a child". Being around these children this morning and for the next few weeks, hopefully I will get a small glimpse of what that really means and learn to live that out.