When I was in the 5th grade, my special teacher, Mrs. Eckert, asked for a volunteer to read a story for some 2nd grade students at our school in the coming week. One of the 2nd grade teachers thought her students would appreciate hearing from an older student. My classmates became quite quiet after my teacher’s request, but I raised my hand and volunteered. My teacher told me she would tell me soon on what day I would read. Then she asked me to pick a book from her bookshelf, and I picked a fictional book on Paul Bunyan. I read it once at home to prepare.
A few days later, a young girl appeared at the door of our classroom and said her teacher was ready for the reader. With a perplexed look I looked at my teacher, and she looked at me and said, “Oh, did I forget to tell you today is the day?” She had. I said I had the book with me and that I could do it. Yet I felt overwhelmed. After walking out of my classroom, I even started walking in the wrong direction down the hall. Fortunately the young girl who was escorting me was patient.
Though I was not as prepared as I wanted to be, reading the book to that class of second graders went well. The key point which stuck with me was the fact those young students were all so attentive. At one point when I was reading, I looked up and saw all of those second graders quietly looking straight at me. They intently listened to me read that entire book.
After I returned to my class, my teacher apologized to me for forgetting to tell me the date, and she later complimented me, saying the 2nd grade teacher said I did a good job.
As a follower of Jesus, this memory is important for me, because it reminds me of how open children are to learning. When a child is in a store, often times he or she will grab something from a shelf. Why? Because he or she wants to experience it. That is a good thing. Children desire to learn.
The tragedy in American culture at this time is that our culture is full of much sickness which is hurting our children. From sexual immorality, to violence, to drugs, to cussing, to flat out meanness, our culture is saturated with sin. And access to all kinds of evil is easy on the Internet, cruel stuff I was never exposed to at all in my youth. Many young people have easy access to such sick stuff right on their electronic devices. And our culture simply is becoming more and more of a bad influence on our youth of all ages.
So a common practice by parents is to keep their children heavily occupied in school and extracurricular activities. But such nonstop activities can keep kids from the blessing of simply being a kid. When I was young, I had activities, yet I also had plenty of time for simply playing with friends outside, or playing alone. Creativity was often fostered in such non-structured time. I would develop my own activities. Fortunately, in this pandemic, a number of families are spending more time together doing activities as a family. How super. But dangers still lurk for a number of children.
Jesus loves all people, and Jesus loves all children. Thus Jesus does not want anyone getting hurt. Jesus was totally clear about His desire that children be protected! In the summer of 2019, I spent a day at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. In one exhibit, there is a model of a millstone which was used for crushing olives to make olive oil. I was fascinated by the exhibit, because in the past four years I have learned of how important olive oil was to people 2000 years ago.
Regarding the millstone model: It was huge. The warning from Jesus, recorded in Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42, and Luke 17:2 could not be any clearer. People who hurt children are going to be punished, because Jesus wants all children protected, physically and spiritually in their heart. (Eternal salvation is given to anyone who truly believes in Jesus as his or her Savior and Lord.)
In this day and age where a landslide of immorality is taking place, what can we do? We can love children by being Christ-like, by telling children about Jesus, and by teaching children about the teachings of Jesus. He is the Savior who died on a cross for them.
This pandemic of 2020 has been stressful for everyone. Thankfully children on the whole have not been in the direct path of harm from COVID, however a number of families have had people die, and the social distancing and the economic hardships have been rough on children. Now as always, children need the love and hope offered from Jesus. May we continue to teach the children the Biblical truths about Jesus that they may have the love of Jesus in their hearts and live by that love, and be blessed!
Hunter
