I love how children KNOW God. I love the way children view God, how they hear and process the truths and stories from the Bible, and how they live it out.<\/p>\n
One day, a long time ago, a few years before my oldest son even entered school, we were at a beach by the ocean. I was watching him from a distance. He stepped carefully into the water and walked out again. He did this a few times before getting really frustrated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d I asked him. \u201cIs it too cold? Too rocky?\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"IMG_1717\"](\"http:\/\/insideout2.insidewp.test\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/09\/IMG_1717-350x233.jpg\")
\u201cWhy can\u2019t I do it?\u201d he said, clearly agitated. \u201cI keep sinking into the water.\u201d I started to explain how this was normal, how our bodies are heavier than water, how our feet need to find a place to balance, like any good teacher-mom would do.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Jesus could do it. And the disciple could do it. So, why can\u2019t I walk on water?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Oh, that child-like faith. That belief, that trust, that awe.<\/p>\n On our latest trek to the ocean, I asked him to come into the water with me. It was a flat out no. After begging<\/span> asking him some more, he told me it was too cold, too rocky, too many waves.<\/p>\n In school, I start the grade one Bible curriculum each year by discussing our favourite Bible stories and then drawing a picture of it. I love how easy it is for kids to pick out a story they love. The kids get to say their story and then draw a picture about it. I did it when I taught Kindergarten and I did it when I taught grade four (they write about it or draw a comic about it at that age).<\/p>\n And I did it again this year\u2026.<\/p>\n One of the children in my class came up with a story I hadn’t ever heard before as a \u201cfavourite.\u201d It was the story of Jesus talking to his disciples before he went to heaven to be with God. I quickly rattled off the verse:<\/p>\n \u201c<\/sup><\/em>Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20\u00a0<\/sup>and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.\u201d Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n This one stuck with me for some reason.<\/span><\/strong> I went home that night and looked up the different translations or versions. I stumbled upon the paraphrased version in The Message<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/sup><\/em>Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: ‘God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I\u2019ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.'”<\/em><\/p>\n Maybe instead of an easy, comfortable first day activity, I needed a little lesson from a grade one student. A reminder of what my job was this year, and always.\u00a0 A reminder to never lose that awe, that trust, that faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I love how children KNOW God. I love the way children view God, how they hear and process the truths and stories from the Bible, and how they live it out. One day, a long time ago, a few years before my oldest son even entered school, we were at a beach by the ocean. […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,10,14],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elementary","category-faith","category-parents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}