Unless you change and become like little children...

What does Jesus mean when he says in Matthew 18:2,

Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven...

I think that kids don't have all the hang ups that adults have. They aren't busy looking around at what others are doing and what others might think of them. They naturally trust those who take care of them. They won't trust perfectly, but they really don't have any choice. Kids are always being toted around wherever their parents go, so they are always willing just to go. Little Josie wants to go with me every time. She doesn't know or care where I am going or what I am doing, she just wants to go. Because children don't have a big picture of how bad and awful the world really is, they innocently thing that everyone is "nice."

So the complete trust in God is what we really need that is like a child, but the context of those verses in Matt 18 is really important. The disciples ask a question - who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven - I think they are really asking, "which of us is the greatest?" In Jesus' classic style he doesn't answer their question but gives them a better thing to think about. A small child is never in her wildest dreams going to think she is the greatest at anything. She may fuss and scream for her way, but she does that because she knows she small and insignificant next to the "big people" around her. I think the heart of Jesus' response is that we are never, ever, going to be great in God's kingdom by thinking we are big and bad.

The economy of God is that in Him and through childlike faith and trust in Him alone, the weak and powerless can do anything that God wants to do. We have to change from the big, bad, proud men & women that we are and become weak and helpless, fulling falling on his strong arms to hold us up.

It's been said that Christians are weak because they use their faith as a crutch to lean on in hard times. (like Everitt McGill in the O Brother Where Art Thou movie said, mocking his friends being baptized, "Hard times flush the chumps." He also said, "Baptism - you two are dummer than a bag o' hammers.")

The truth is that faith is not just a crutch. It is a stretcher, and only when we fall completely on it face down helpless before God can we really be a worshiper.

Bloggy on my wayward son

Too busy to blog, so that's usually when I come up with something profound. I realized that there is a whole plethora of things to blog about, but I have been too busy with camp stuff to get to it. Here's what I have been thinking about and doing:

The 2011 Camp Season - and all its blessings and difficulties. Zip lines are going great. Leading worship for kid's camps is an awesome, incredible privilege. Keeping a close watch for hazards and difficulties keeps me ever vigilant. I have some incredible helpers this summer, some of whom were sick or gone this last weekend, so I missed them even more. I can't help but be amazed at what has happened the last two weeks.

I am guessing we have done over 400 zip line rides in the last two weeks. This week I need to finish preparing the ground for Nathan Smith to bring his horses here for JH1.

While up on the zip line platform on Friday morning, launching multitudes of delighted 2nd-4th graders down the lines, (hundreds of yards from the highway) I heard a terrible squeal of tires and then the unmistakable sound of loud crunching metal. I and everyone around me knew we had just heard a vehicle crashing on the road. Since I was up on the platform launching campers I knew I could not leave, but I saw people literally running to help, not knowing what they would find. In the Lord's providence, we had at the camp (for demonstration purposes) a highway patrolman, and a life flight helicopter, as well as several firemen and emt's.

It was a hard moment for me to not run down and see what was going on, but all those folks were professionals who dealt with the crash and the poor driver instantly. How often would that happen out on the back roads of rural Missouri? I was so blessed to know that there are so many wonderful, capable, professional, caring people who are volunteers at this camp.

I am also so impressed with my three sons. They have done so much hard work these last few weeks to get ready for camp and to get the camp season started. All three were high school campers for HS1, and then they started working again. Jason got sick, and Jonathan stepped up and did many things that he did not plan to do, including playing the drums while I led worship. Truly those three young men are a blessing to me and to the camp. Few people realize how valuable they are to this ministry.

I am so thankful for my brother in law Jeff working here this summer. What an amazing man, hard worker, faithful servant, and all around fun guy to be with.

How great it has been to see Blake growing up some as he has taken the role of lifeguard - more police work than anything.

And all the others - Adam, Kenan, and the girls, they have all done great. The kitchen serving thing is the best we have ever done it. At this point, I think I can honestly say that now at the beginning of my 5th summer doing this, I am beginning to finally feel like I actually know what I am doing. I don't always get it all done, but I know what I am supposed to be doing.

What amazing teaching and preaching I have heard. I haven't been able to hear them all, but they have been outstanding. These last few days, we have had Matt Proctor teaching the 2nd - 4th grade camp. Here is a Bible college president teaching little kids, and doing a much better job than many children's ministers and teachers I have heard over the years.

I am glad to be serving the Church by making the Church better by helping the Church extend its ministry.

Excited to see what tomorrow brings.

jc