What Jesus thinks about kids

In Mark 9:37 it says, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."  In the culture of Jesus' day and even today, children are often looked at as nuisances, in the way and not welcome.  Jesus spoke this word directly against that attitude.  He very clearly tells us that whoever welcomes a little child is welcoming Him.  Larry Wilson, the leader of our mission team this week in Honduras, shared a story from a few years ago.  He was working on a mission team and during his time in one of the small Honduran towns a little girl walked up to him.  Some of the local people said that she was a vagabond.  The dictionary defines that word as disreputable or worthless.  That is what that little girl was told.  So many of the little kids here believe that they have no value.  They are abused, neglected and mistreated. 

Eric Riggle, who has been coming here for years, shared a testimony today about a little girl.  He shared that God has given him a gift.  His gift is the ability to work with his hands and make things as a carpenter.  Eric has helped install roofs, built a house for a pastor, built a huge deck/platform for a youth center, tables and chairs for kids, and many more things beyond that.  With tears in his eyes he shared that this week God gave him another ability....the ability to make a little girl smile.  This little girl is standing beside Eric in the picture and her name is Marjorie.  Eric met Marjorie a couple of years ago on another project and she was missing her front teeth.  At the beginning of the week she would never smile.  Eric cared for her and spent time for her and eventually by the end of the week she gave him a huge smile.  Eric had become the hands and feet of Jesus to this little girl, communicating to her that she mattered to God.  This week that little girl wandered over to our church and found Eric again and they were reunited.  He learned that she has become a leader in her Sunday School class and also is one of the worship leaders in the church now.  Her life has been changed because someone believed in her and noticed them and loved them.

I heard a quote today that goes something like this, 'Don't ever get so big or so important that you don't have the time to answer a phone call from a 2 year old with a plastic toy phone.'  I like that.  Jesus cares about these little ones and so should we. 

Rich

Normally when i think about rich, i would tend to think about having a lot of money.  The reality is though, rich, is being connected to God.  When you surrender your life to Christ, you are connected to the One who created everything from nothing and the One who owns a cattle on a thousand hills, which is old school language for, uh, everything.  Because of His lavish love and mercy and glory He adopted me into His family and calls me His Son, wow.  I am starting to understand wealth in terms of relationships.  Truly the most wealty and rich people are those who are rich in relationships.  First, a relationship with God through Christ, and second through relationships with others.  That's been one of the biggest blessings about doing these short term mission trips is that my heart feels deeply satisfied as I grow richer in relationships through serving alongside of other brothers and sisters in Christ and through spending time with these kids and youth each and every day.  One of the biggest tragedies is getting sucked into the lie that money will make you happy and to do anything it takes to make money including burning bridges, taking shortcuts, and walking all over people.  One a sad ending for those who choose that path.  Everytime I go to a funeral of a person who was rich in relationships, it is profoundly powerful.  Never does anyone celebrate the money they made, but rather the relationships they made...their relationship with Christ and their relationship with others.