Responses
Mike_Wise: Thanks (1/10/12)
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Responses (sorted by date)
Mike_Wise: Thanks (1/10/12)
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We have Kid Vespers for our five to eight year olds. I had the privilege
of teaching them on Sunday. It was my first time. I have done a lot of
traveling in the past and between cooking and preaching it is hard to do
any of the Sunday night tasks so I have gotten a pass from teaching Kid
Vespers.
We have everything the teacher needs for the lesson in a round coffee
(oatmeal) box. There is a Bible story to read, a project to do, a snack,
and instructions. I went over the things and got the room ready while
the kids were in the worship service and then went to bring them back to
the room. They were a little scared of me. It is funny to me that they
will talk to me and sit on my lap and yet they have this sort of awkward
fear around me. Nine little ones gathered at my feet and looked up
expectantly.
I welcomed them and Eric's son told me the rules for kids. He said they
only get one warning and then if they are disruptive they have to sit on
a stool outside the door until the teacher says they can come back. If
they continue to be bad they go sit with their parents. I thanked him
for telling me the rules and told him I would follow them, but I might
also just make kids sit with me after church and we would talk and they
could help me clean up if they were bad. Eric's son looked at me for a
minute and said, "Ooh, that can't be good." :-)
I slowly read the story. It was amazing to interact with them. When I
asked them what sin was, they had a pretty good idea. When I asked if
Jesus was able to make bread out of stones and throw himself off the
temple without dying they gave good answers. One kid said Jesus was
strong and that he was real and not like superheroes. When one of the
kids asked what we are supposed to do when we are tempted to sin,
another kid said, "Confess and turn away." The first kid asked what it
meant to confess, and little Rosie said, "When you do something bad you
tell God about it and then you go to the person you did the bad thing to
and you tell them what you did and you tell them you are sorry. It is up
to them if they want to forgive you or not." I was blown away.
Apparently ketchup on salad is a good thing. We spent almost 45 minutes
talking through the story and then we had prayer time.
Here are the prayer requests:
"Could you pray for my mom's elbow surgery. It is not doing what we
hoped and I'm a little worried for her."
"Could you pray that we get a new dog? Not like the big dog we had
before because he was too hard to handle, but a little one that is just
right for us?"
"Could you pray for our cat that it won't have to have the surgery we
can't afford?"
"Could you just pray for me?" Sure, I responded, but what would you like
me to pray for specifically? He responded, "I don't know, I just would
like for God to know about me and I think I just need prayer all over
for the whole me." This was followed by a chorus of "Can you pray for
me, too?"
"Could you just tell God how great he is?" (Rosie again)
"Could you tell God that I keep messing up and that I am sure glad that
he forgives me?"
The most poignant prayer request was actually the very first one made,
though I have saved it for last on this list. It was a tough prayer
request to hear. My heart still breaks from having heard it. It went as
follows:
"I know it is not probably possible, but could you ask God to make my
dad come back to life for me. I know he probably won't do it. I know
that it doesn't happen. And I know that he is with Jesus and with God
and that they love him more and know what it is best, but I'd like you
to pray that he comes back to life because I really, really missed him
at Christmas."
I prayed all the requests to God. I prayed for each kid by name. I told
God how great he is. And I prayed that a little boy's daddy would come
back to life even if we know it is impossible.
I silently wept while they ate their snack. What a privilege to learn
from the little ones. We never really made it to the project.
Rod | 
