A Child’s View of God

 “But God is mad at me.” As I was getting ready to begin a Bible message in Kids Church, before I could even get started good, these words flowed from the lips of a 5 year old boy. His words stayed with me. His words caused me to wonder. His words caused me to pray. His words caused me to feel compelled to give this child and perhaps other children like Him a correct view of God. Did he get this thought and belief from home? From church? From Somewhere else? I’m not sure. But my mind reflected on some of the words I have in the past heard adults utter to children when trying to help them behave. Statements such as “You better be good, because God is watching you” came to mind. Could this child’s view of God have come from statements such as this that promote fear, i.e. be good or else. Well, I’m not sure, but it was a reminder to me of just how significant my role as a Children’s Pastor really is. It is an opportunity to help children understand who God really is, and to shape their views of Him and of themselves as it relates to Him. Ironically, the message the next week was on the love of God, with the big idea being “God loves me even when I do something wrong.” I viewed the contents of the message with this child and other children like him in mind!

Kyla’s Victory Over Cancer, Again!

CANCER, not a word any of us want to hear the doctors utter to us about us, or about those that we love. It’s definitely not a word that a mother wants to hear the doctors utter about their 5 year old child, but two years ago this is the message Diane heard about Kyla. These are the words I heard as the phone rang at around 7am. The beginning of a long battle that ended after several difficult treatments.

We celebrated her healing only to discover a year later that cancer had returned once again, and this time more aggresively. As Kyla faced her second battle with cancer, her mom and all of us who love her experienced hearts filled with fear, pain and despair – not this again! But the strange thing about it is that Kyla didn’t seem bothered by it at all. As she went in for her first surgical procedure, she was laying on her bed singing the words of a song. From her lips flowed the words “I’ve got victory, the sweet, sweet vicory in Jesus….”

From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise… (Psalm8:2a)

Could it be that the faith of this 5 year old far surpassed and surpasses that of those of us in her life that have walked with God much longer and know of His power to heal and give victory? I think the answer is yes. No wonder Jesus holds children up before us and encourages us to follow their example – they teach us so much.

Kyla’s treatment became complicated along the way. The problem was that, according to the doctors, “she was healing too rapidly.” Why was this a problem? Because if they continued the treatment when there was nothing there to treat, there was risk of damaging her boday in a way that would effect her as an adult. If they stopped treatment, they risked having the cancer return later on at some point. It was a tough place to be in, but her mom decided to continue treatments, and Kyla recently completed her treatments for cancer and continues to sing praises to God. She loves Jesus, talks about Him everytime I talk to her on the phone, and she was correct – she does have victory in Jesus!

Kyla & her Mom Diane are able to smile once again. By the way, her mom recently told me that her hair is finally coming back, but she’s cute with or without it.