I am never quite sure how much our church children are absorbing in our services and in our Sunday school. Sometimes I'm quite amazed at what they understand and remember.  At other times I am amused at what they have misunderstood.  I'd like to share a few things kids (not ours) have said in church and a couple of stories about kids.

A little boy listened to a sermon about Lot. He seemed enthralled. He later told his parents that Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day and a pillar of fire by night.

One youngster reported that Moses had gone up Mt. Cyanide and died.  Obviously he didn't always know the words being used, but he was listening.  He also said that Solomon had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.

A tender-hearted little girl was obviously an animal lover.  She listened intently to her Sunday school teacher tell Jesus' parable of the prodigal son.  When she was asked, "Who was sorry when the prodigal returned home?" she quickly replied, "the fatted calf."

Some kids are really concerned about the application of Biblical rules in their own lives.  One such kid heard his parents discussing the implications of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  His comment was, "I sure hope they didn't find any more commandments."

We of course expect parents to teach Biblical stories and lessons at home to their children.  They are the ones responsible for raising their children according to spiritual principles.  Church and Sunday school should be a supplement to what is taught in the home.  But sometimes what children don't know is a true reflection of what their parents don't know.  The following story illustrates this quite well:

A Sunday school teacher asked one of her young charges, "Who tore down the walls of Jericho?"

He quickly said, "I didn't do it!"

The teacher was upset that the lesson she had assigned as home work the week before obviously had not been done. She went to the boy's mother and said, "I asked your son who tore down the walls of Jericho, and he answered me, 'I didn't do it.'"  The mother replied, "Well, if he said he didn't do it, then he didn't do it."

Thoroughly exasperated, the teacher went to the boy's father and told him what his son had said.  The father didn't hesitate, "Look, we don't want any trouble.  How much did they cost?"

One more story which shows the awe and understanding children have of the reality of God.  Sometimes we don't realize what our statements convey to a young mind:

A family was traveling across country by train in a Pullman car.  The first night the husband and wife were sleeping in a top bunk while their four year old son was sleeping down below.  But he was having trouble sleeping. He was nervous so he called up to the top bunk, "Dad, are you there?"

His father tried to reassure him, "Yes, son, I'm here. Your mother's here.  And God is here.  Everything is fine.  Go to sleep now."

After about five minutes of silence the boy asked, "Mom, are you there?"

She responded, "Yes, son.  I'm here.  Your Dad's here. And God is here.  Everything is fine.  Close your eyes and go to sleep."  She hoped that would be the end to his unease and questions.

But several minutes later the boy again called out, "Dad, are you still there?"

A man on the other side of the thin partition was trying to sleep and was getting a little irritated by the boy's repeated questions.  He quickly answered, "Yes, son, your daddy's here, your mommy's here, and God is here.  Now go to sleep."

A minute later the boy loudly asked, "Dad, was that God?"

I used to think America's favorite hymn, "Amazing Grace”, was a bit extreme: "... that saved a wretch like me." Wow, that’s a pretty blunt word to describe his self appraisal!

But the author was a wretch, a moral pariah. While a new believer about the year 1750, Captain John Newton had commanded an English slave ship.

                  Do you know what that meant? Ships would make the first leg of their voyage from England nearly empty until they would anchor off the African coast. There tribal chiefs would deliver to the Europeans, stockades full of men and women captured in raids and wars against other tribes. Buyers would select the finest specimens, which would be bartered for weapons, ammunition, metal, liquor, trinkets, and cloth. Then the captives would be loaded aboard, packed for sailing. They were chained below decks to prevent suicides, laid side by side to save space, row after row, one after another, until the vessel was laden with as many as 650 units of human cargo.

Captains sought a fast voyage across the Atlantic's infamous "middle passage," hoping to preserve as much of their cargo as possible, yet mortality sometimes ran 20% or higher. When an outbreak of smallpox or dysentery occurred, the stricken were cast overboard. Once they arrived in the New World, blacks were traded for sugar and molasses to manufacture rum, which the ships would carry to England for the final leg of their "triangle trade." Then off to Africa for yet another round. John Newton transported more than a few shiploads of the 6 million African slaves brought to the Americas in the 18th century.

At sea by the age of eleven, he was forced to enlist on a British man-of-war seven years later. Recaptured after desertion, the disgraced sailor was exchanged to the crew of a slave ship bound for Africa.

It was a book he found on board--Thomas Kempis' Imitation of Christ--which sowed the seeds of his conversion. When his ship nearly floundered in a storm, he gave his life to Christ. Later he was promoted to captain of a slave ship. Commanding a slave vessel seems like a strange place to find a new Christian. But at last the inhuman aspects of the business began to eat at his sense of right and wrong, and he left the sea for good.

While working as a tide surveyor he studied for the ministry, and for the last 43 years of his life preached the gospel in Olney and London. At 82, Newton said, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior." No wonder he understood so well grace--the completely undeserved mercy and favor of God.

Newton's tombstone reads, "John Newton, Clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy." But a far greater testimony outlives Newton in the most famous of the hundreds of hymns he wrote:

 

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me,

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

 

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved.

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed.

 

Through many dangers, toils and snares,

I have already come.

'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home.

Ebenezers - 1 Kings 17

Elijah was from Tishbeh, which made him a Tishbite. That’s about all we know about Elijah before he bursts on the scene to pronounce judgment on wicked King Ahab. The judgment was for no rain until Elijah said so.
           Now, without rain, things are due to just get worse and worse. So, had Elijah been staying with people, they would have tried anything and everything to persuade Elijah to relent that judgment. Therefore, the Lord instructed Elijah to hide by a brook called Cherith. There he would be fed by ravens bringing him bread and meat.
           To some, this would appear to be a waste of time. Actually, it was an extremely opportune and excellent time for Elijah to learn and experience intimately his relationship with God on a one-to-one basis. Elijah learned much at Cherith, but the time came, because there was no rain, that the brook dried up. The Lord then instructed Elijah to move on to Zarephath.
           This meant a walk of over one hundred miles through a land where everyone was looking high and low for him: a hundred mile walk, mostly through desert, with no personal provisions. It takes faith to make a trek like that! Upon arriving in Zerephath, Elijah was very thirsty and hungry. He asked a widow to bring him some water and bread, because the Lord had explained that a widow would provide for him there.
           The widow explained that some water was available, but there was practically no food. As a matter of fact, she had been collecting sticks to fuel a fire to prepare her last handful of flour and oil for a final meal with her son. Like Old Mother Hubbard, her cupboard was bare, and there was nothing to do but wait and starve.
           This was Elijah’s first impression of Zarephath. Now remember, his instructions were to walk more than a hundred miles to this spot. Elijah was told this widow would provide for him and it turns out she can’t even provide for herself or her son! Elijah was thirsty, hungry, and exhausted. Lesser men would have sat down and cried, but not this hero of faith! No, Elijah lifts his head and explains to the woman, “Do not fear, the flour and oil will remain constant until the day it rains again.”
           So she made bread and she made more and more bread, just as Elijah had said. Actually, it’s a very simple formula: do as you’re told, and God will be faithful to do as he said he would. It’s really not that complicated.
           Now, do you think Elijah pondered why the Lord sent him first to Cherith with no human contact at all, and then to Zarephath with very limited human contact? I think he did, although I’m sure it wasn’t high on his priority list. All the heroes of faith knew that understanding why is never as important as following God’s direction in the first place, and Elijah always obeyed God. Boil it down, cut to the chase, look at the core, call it what you will, but it always starts with two simple words: trust and obey.
           It’s been said it’s doubtful that God can bless anyone greatly until they’ve been hurt deeply. In our story, the widow is devastated when her son becomes sick and dies. She held her dead son in her arms as she poured her grief to Elijah. Then the widow asked the man of God if he was sent to slay the boy because of her sin.
           This is overwhelming to Elijah, who decided enough is enough. Elijah took the boy from his distraught mother, carried him to his own room, and laid him on his bed. There, Elijah cried to the Lord, “Why, oh why?” It is important to remember that prior to this incident, there is no record of anyone who has been brought back to life. When Elijah cried to the Lord to return life to this child, he was asking for something that had never been done before. I think that you’ll agree this is extraordinary faith.
           Elijah laid himself over the boy three times, crying to the Lord, “Let him live again!” and the Lord blessed his request. Can you imagine Elijah’s joy when that boy opened his eyes and said hello? Is it any wonder that James points to Elijah to make the point that the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much?
           Imagine the scene when Elijah reunited the son and mother! It is but an inkling of the coming, appointed time when those who mourn in Zion will be given beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, as proclaimed by Isaiah. Why? So that we may be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified! (Isa. 61:3) Praise the Lord!