Faith of a child

I was in a non-church setting with some 7-year-olds recently. They were drawing a picture to go along with the story about pizza they had just read. When one boy finished his drawing he still had room on the page. He asked if he could draw a cross. I said sure.

Of course then the others wanted to draw a cross too. Most or all of them have been exposed to Jesus. As they drew their crosses they began to talk about Jesus. The original boy said Jesus died on the cross. Another said, isn't He living now? I chimed in and said His is living now, that He walked around on earth for 40 days and talked with His friends.

I explained the section from Acts where Jesus went up in a cloud right in front of some people and the angel came down and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you keep looking for Jesus? Go and spread the Good News of His resurrection!" and so on.

One of the girls breathlessly hung on my words and as I finished, she said with intake gasp,

"Where you there?"

I cracked up, and said "No, I'm not that old!"

"But how do you know?" she asked

"It's in the Bible."

"Ohhh!" she said.

Children are the reverse of adults. She was enthralled with the story of Jesus' ascension, she just hadn't had the wherewithal to know the specifics of the Bible. The faith of this child caused gasps of amazement and her feeling of immediacy within the story, intuitively living it in the now. It sparked questions, and though an ignorance the Bible, an interest in it.

Adults have the advantage of having the wherewithal to obtain a Bible, and to know the Bible. But  so many of them aren't moved by the story anymore. They have full access to it, don't read it, and are too cool to be breathless or show wonderment even at the most momentous events within it.

The faith of children is always so encouraging to me.

A child. c. 1938