“And He said: ““I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
~ Matthew 18:3
Hi James and Ellen,
Who do you think that Jesus liked the most? Jesus especially cared about little kids – like you. A tax collector who Jesus chose to be in a motley group of twelve guys who He would disciple wrote in his Matthew Book – in Matthew 18, about how Jesus felt about little kids. Jesus’ diverse band of twelve guys who He chose to mentor asked Jesus one day who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven – which probably included planet Earth. This question that Jesus’ twelve guys asked Him maybe had to do with wanting to be the guy who Jesus liked the most. There were a couple of really smart guys – Raúl Pedraza and Ramón Saucedo, in the first class of eight guys at the rural resident training center that was located in Concepción, Ñuflo de Chávez in Bolivia. When your grandmaa and grandpaa returned to Bolivia in the summer of 1983 after a yearlong furlough in the United States, your grandmaa and grandpaa were reassigned to the rural resident training center that was located in Concepción to oversee onsite all the activities there. Your grandmaa and grandpaa had jumpstarted the rural resident training center program about four months before they left for the United States to begin the yearlong furlough break. Your grandpaa had taken the ideas of some of the guys who were field team missionaries on South American Mission’s field missionary team in Bolivia and he and your grandmaa made it happen in Concepción beginning around the end of January in 1982. Not long after your grandmaa and grandpaa were back to Concepción in 1983, Ramón asked your grandpaa who of all the guys at the rural resident training center was doing the best in the two week modules that were being taught by different teachers. Ramón knew that he was probably doing the best in the different two week modules; Ramón just wanted your grandpaa to tell him that he was. Your grandpaa told Ramón that he and Raúl were doing the best in the classes but that he was by far the laziest guy among the other Centro de Capacitación or training center students. The guys who were students at the rural resident training center or Centro de Capacitación’ were to from Monday through Friday spend two hours each afternoon and three hours on Saturday mornings cutting grass with machetes, weeding the garden and flower plots, finding and chopping firewood and working on the building projects. Ramón had not been a good worker when it came to physical labor. When your grandpaa told Ramón that he was the laziest guy among all the Centro de Capacitación students, Ramón became very diligent at being one of the best workers.
Something that was really important to your grandmaa and grandpaa was that each married guy who was a student at the rural resident training center or Centro de Capacitación in Concepción had to have all his family with him when he arrived at the rural resident training center. It was very important to your grandmaa and grandpaa that the wife of each of the Centro de Capacitación students who were married – along with his kid or kids, were also learning Biblical truths at the same time that he was. Jesus used the simple faith of a little kid as an example of the faith that He wanted His select gang of disciples to have. Verse 3 says, “And He said: ““I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” A practical ministry assignment that your grandmaa had for the gals at the rural resident training center in Concepción was to have them teach Bible stories to their kids. Your grandmaa and grandpaa for years administrated and led summer teams that would spend over seven weeks in Bolivia and Guatemala. One of the hands-on ministries that has always been on top of the list as the most important ministry activity of the summer for a summer team is to have daily kid’s happenings. The daily kid’s happenings may include circle games, singing, a Bible story that would include some dramatization or play acting of it, maybe learning a memory verse and coloring or handwork. Your grandpaa always wanted the activities to last over an hour with the kids who showed up to spend time with the summer team guys and gals. One of the reasons for wanting to have summer teams have a kid’s happening every day is that your grandmaa and grandpaa know that kids are the best at teaching a visitor from another country their way of life. Kids are very forgiving of mistakes that a guy, gal or kid makes trying to speak their language. Kids are very patient with a guy, gal or kid who is trying to speak their language. A kid seem to be always happy when a bigger kid or a guy or gal is showing him or her attention. Your Aunt Lynn and Uncle Chris just recently led a short term youth ministry team to Guatemala from their church in Holland, Michigan where they are the youth pastors. Almost every single day and sometimes twice a day, the Holland, Michigan short term youth ministry team that was led by your Aunt Lynn and Uncle Chris had kid’s happenings were about twenty kids to over one hundred kids showed up in the different sites.
Jesus made it very clear to His select gang of twelve guys who He was mentoring that no guy or gal better ever mess with a little kid because if a guy or gal did, that guy or gal is going to wish that he or she could be thrown into the middle of a sea with a heavy millstone tied around his or her neck. Jesus also laid out how to confront a guy or gal who is clearly sinning. The first step is to go to the guy or gal who is clearly sinning to urge the guy or gal to stop doing what he or she is doing. Then if the guy or gal does not stop what he or she is doing that is clearly a sin, then a second guy or gal is to go along with the first guy or gal to urge the guy or gal to stop doing what he or she is doing. Then if the guy or gal still does not stop doing what is clearly a sin, the church leaders are to be advised about what the guy or gal is doing. Two or three who get together to agree in God’s name is for disciplining a guy or gal.
Matthew 18 (497)