Learning To Be A Child

The last two days of ministry in Rwanda were possibly the best days on the race.  I have always loved kids and playing with them gives me so much joy.  During the revival I sat in the back and got surrounded by kids and played with them, we may or may not have gotten in a trouble.  One night we got called up front to dance during the worship and I brought one of the little guys I had been dancing with in the back because he was teaching me some sweet moves.  I say that jokingly but this month I have learned to walk in freedom, and this little guy was helping me let go and just dance.  

The next day I we were waiting for our contact to come so we could advertise for the revival.  While we were waiting kids started coming around and I chased a couple of them.  Before long there were some kids that had these things I call nature’s water gun because they are filled with a liquid and you take the tip off and it shoots perfectly.  This soon turned into a group of 20-30 African kids chasing me and squirting me and then me squirting them.  I even got filmed by the pastor and didn't care.  

When it was time to go hand out fliers the kids came along and I had a small group with me the whole time.  At the end of our walk it started raining so we got under a overhang to wait out the rain.  While we waited I sang songs with the kids and made noises and just had fun.  The adults that were inside and waiting around us were giving me weird looks and laughing at me but the kids were having a ball and that was all that mattered.  

That night I felt the need to step outside during the revival and while I sat there I watched the kids outside playing and having fun.  Soon a lady came and made them move so they didn’t interrupt the service.  I realize that it was probably the right move but at the time all I thought was “let them have fun and be kids”.  I felt God telling me that we squash people’s childlike spirit and that mine had also been suppressed.   I have started caring to much about what people think that I have forgotten how to just let go and have fun.  God used those kids to show me how to be a kid again.  He used them to show me how to have a childlike faith.  They showed me how to trust, to chase after, and to love not because of agendas or obligation but because you do.  I had a little girl just run up to me and grab my hand so she could walk with me.  That is how we should approach God, just run up and grab his hand.  More often than not I don’t do that. 
It’s amazing the things you can learn from the children of the world.  They are so full of joy and love.  Jesus tells us to have a childlike faith for a reason.  They aren’t corrupted by all the crap that keeps us from letting go.  They haven’t had the world tell them to guard themselves so they don’t get hurt.  Instead they trust and love you without making you earn it.