Our Faith Still Holds...Even When Our World is Rocked

It's easy, when you are the one in charge, to feel like you must always have it together.  And to some degree we do.  After all, we need to be prepared, we need to be able to make changes on the fly, we need to be able to roll with the punches that come on any given Sunday and sometimes that means keeping our cool when we'd really rather blow our stack.  Those are the normal situations that we all need to be prepared for in order to do our jobs.

But then there are other times...times when something happens that will knock your world for a loop and when it does, it's ok for the kids to see your emotions.  Sometimes they will be good things.  We don't mind sharing the good stuff with the kids in our department.  When you are expecting a new baby in the family, if you achieve a milestone you've been working hard to reach, or when you are given a fun surprise we enjoy sharing those moments with the children and those we work along side in ministry.  But sometimes, it's not a good thing.  It's something that hurts us deeply like the loss of a family member or a scary diagnosis.  It's ok for the children to see that you are hurting too.  I'm not a counselor, but in my opinion, it's good for them to see how we react to such news.  Why?  Because they will have good and bad times in their own lives and seeing how other Christians walk through those times is a powerful witness.

Several years ago, I was living in California and I received the news that a beloved Great Aunt had passed away.  She lived several states away and I knew that there would be no way that I would be able to attend the funeral.  I was crushed by her passing.  Then it just so happened that on the day of her funeral, I was to lead a weekly Chapel for the school in our church.  I couldn't bring myself to lead the music, so I asked someone else to do that for me, but I  decided that I would bring the lesson.  And that day, through tears, I told those children about my Great Aunt and what an impact she had made on my life.  You see she was a Christian too, and I told them how even though she had been ill for a long time, it had never taken away her love for Jesus or her love for other people.  The kids could see that I was hurting, but wanted them to know that I was sad for me...not for her.  That she was in heaven enjoying a reward she richly deserved and that I wanted to be a light that shined for Jesus as brightly as hers had shined.

Children live in a world that likes to blame God for any pain they endure, and I want my witness to be that God walks through those painful times with us.  They also live in a world that likes to forget God when times are good and I want them to see that He is with us during those times as well.  I'm not saying that we need to share everything that goes on in our lives with the children, but when something rocks our world...they need to know that those things do not rock our faith.  At least, that's my opinion.

Until next week.