Crazy kids...

Well, the week has gone by a lot quicker than I expected. VBS is coming to end, and like every year that it ends, I always feel bit sad knowing that I won't get to play around with all the kids until I see them during the school year at my church's Saturday kids' program, AWANA. This year seems especially melancholy in that part of me knows that this will be my last time helping out with the young ones for awhile, as I'm pretty sure I won't be helping in that area of the church next year. I feel strongly led by God to something else, but even in that leading there's some wrestling with myself I'm doing.

Tonight itself was especially crazy because my group was short one helper... Auntie Emily Woo (who's younger than I am, hahaha) is great with the kids. I also neglected to mention that on Tuesday I got switched to head a different group, a "combination" group of kids aged pre-K to first grade. Being the "head teacher" really isn't that difficult, though... I'm more worried about Friday's program, where the parents will be attending a presentation where each group of kids will be performing a song or skit. There past few days, the kids have been practicing this pretty simple song with a chorus that goes:

When we call (when we call) on Jesus
He will save us (He will save us)
When we fall (when we fall) big or small
He will save us (He will save us)

I often reflect when I work with kids how much they personify the child-like faith that all Christians aspire to have... that dogged, unshakeable trust in God and who He is. Going back to Sunday, when I mentioned Pastor Shin's message, the same issue is at the heart. Pastor Shin's message focused on how modern Christian doctrine has in many ways become "unbalanced" because of an overemphasis on certain aspects of God's character. For example, one of the popular verses that Pastor Shin examined was Psalm 37:4 which goes:

"Delight yourself in the LORD;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.

While it is in God's character to give people what they want, far more important is God's desire to give us what is good for us and what we need (James 1:7. Pastor Shin told a simple anecdote about how one day, his young daughter was playing with a metal fork, sticking it everywhere... pillows, etc. But when she wanted to stick the fork into the electrical outlet, Pastor Shin stopped her... even as much as he loved her and wanted to let her do what she wanted, he didn't want her to get hurt. Of course, the analogy was told to parallel our relationship with God - God will not allow us to do/have things, no matter the intensity of our desire for them, if they will hurt us/keep our character from developing to be more like Him.

For myself, the message stroke home in that it illuminated a perspective that I only had glancingly considered before about my unemployment - perhaps more important than having a job and having money is the experience of having my character molded, shaped, and grown by the adversity that this period is creating.

Stuff for me to marinate on...
posted by G at 10:20 PM   |

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33