Oak Hill Baptist Church © 2008-2009

I have been introducing my four-year-old grandson to bugs. He and his little brother visited for two weeks earlier this fall. His little brother is interested in bugs also, but as of this date, his interest is more along the lines of putting them in his mouth. So I have not encouraged him.

 

The interest began when Jaedyn found a dead cicada. We looked it up in my book on insects and talked just a little about how they make a buzzing noise and other characteristics. Every day after finding the cicada, we spent time walking around the yard looking for interesting bugs. We found tarnished plant bugs and leather-wings on some daisies. We found a dead bumble bee. We found a hole in the ground with other bees coming and going but decided not to investigate further. We captured a sod webworm moth and let it go. Just the other day, I found a dead katydid. I put it in a box with some cotton and a note to send to Jaedyn. He called later and we discussed the critter.

 

Children’s minds absorb so much everyday. Their brains are expanding physically, and they really do need input. What an opportunity!

 

On Wednesday evenings about 25 preschoolers come to Awana. They are Lutherans and Catholics and Methodists and “no-churchers.” Some are untidy. Others are rambunctious. Still others sniffle from time to time, either with a runny nose or a bit of homesickness. But they all are learning about Jesus. Through songs and memory verses and puppets and old-fashioned flannel graph, five of us teach them the basics of the gospel. At Easter time I bring a crown of thorns. They are impressed with the barbs that poked into Jesus.

 

On Sunday mornings from 10 to 15 kids come to our 1st and 2nd grade class. We are studying the “ABC’s of God.” The material goes over God’s characteristics. So far we have learned that his name is YHWH. He is incomprehensible. (They found that word rather fascinating.) He is also creator, eternal, glorious, and wise. More letters will follow throughout the year. The lessons use great illustrations. We put together puzzles last Sunday to talk about God’s wisdom. Life may look like a puzzle to us, maybe one without all the pieces or pieces from another puzzle mixed in (somewhat like the life of Joseph), but God is wise enough to put it all together. Marjorie and I are also teaching the kids the books of the New

Testament.

 

Some people have suggested that age eighteen is the dividing line for salvation. Very few people come to Christ after eighteen. I question the statistic, partially from experience, having seen many adults come to Christ. I suspect that kids are easier to count than seniors in care centers.

Yet how valuable it is to pour God’s word into kid’s lives, along with reading, writing, katydids, soccer, “Baby Einstein,” and room cleaning discipline! How many years and life choices will be affected! Parents do well to read Bible stories to their children and bring them to Sunday school so the kids can hear the same thing from other people. Oak Hill does well to constantly, without becoming discouraged, teach the next generation these marvelous truths. While I get tired working with young kids, it is not a chore for me. It is not beneath my pastoral dignity to collect insects or search for the parts of a childish illustration to use in class. Our Lord said, “Let the little children come.” May we always have his heart.