This blog has been no little time in coming. I have debated how to put it into words and tried to figure out how to lay it out but have made little progress since it happened. I am going to try and sum it all up in this blog.
The first night we were in Malaysia last month, our host invited us to join his congregation for worship at the church he pastors. We changed out of our t-shirts and jeans that we had been traveling in, walked over to the church, and sat down in the small, white space that was an apartment over some shops. Plastic chairs filled the room and about 20 people, mostly children, gathered for the service.
As I sat there, I got a glimpse of something I have been looking for while on the Race. I have been searching for and looking at how Christians in other countries worship God. The pastor knelt down during worship and began to cry out to God. The congregation soon followed his example and knelt down and began to praise God for His goodness and character. The hairs on my arms began to stand on end as the tiny little room filled with so much sound of people worshiping God that I wanted to cover my ears. Their whole attitude somehow spoke of humility even though it was loud. The music continued to play, but they cried out. It was an amazing moment to me. It made me realize that while I am worshiping God, I do not do it with humility.
However, the real thing that sticks in my mind from that night is not this worship but came as I sat listening to the sermon. I looked down to my right and saw a lean, healthy, short Indian boy, who I would later find out was a 7-year-old named Sean. As the pastor spoke, I watched Sean take out a small, worn, brown Bible. He flipped with ease to the different passages the pastor called out – as if he had done it a thousand times. As he turned the pages, I saw highlights and underlines throughout the Bible. I honestly lost track of the sermon as I watched Sean read and underline things.
The Bible looked like one that should have belonged to an 80-year-old who had loved and cherished it many years, yet here was 7-year-old Sean with it. As I sat there, I thought about the fact that the worn Bible might have been a relative’s or a gift from someone who had loved it for a long time. Sean’s parents are not Christians, so I am not sure that he would have gotten it from a relative, but how great of a legacy would it be to leave a well-loved Bible to someone? To be able to have something like that, or leave something like that, to a member of my family – Christianity as a legacy of love?
As I watched, it also occurred to me that it might actually be Sean’s. The way he flipped to the passages with ease spoke to many hours spent with it. It brought a new light to childlike faith. He is very much a child in age, but that doesn’t stop him from studying the scriptures and reading them daily. I have come to a conclusion from watching Sean that childlike faith does not mean ignorant or passive/blind faith. Sean seems to know his Bible very well and actively get in the Word. He underlined and paid attention as he soaked up what he could learn. His faith is not ignorant or afraid to dig. He learned much from the Bible. Childlike faith also doesn’t mean laziness. It means working hard and learning as much as you can because you are hungry for knowledge.
I will reflect on that snapshot in my mind’s eye of Sean sitting beside me that night with a pen grasped in his little hand as he held that worn Bible up to flip through it. Childlike does not mean blind or ignorant. It means hunger for the Word and wonder at what it says. I want that. I also want to be able to pass a Bible that looks like Sean’s and a hunger for the Lord on to my children and the people I disciple. THAT is a legacy.
