Hallelujah!

One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. Mark 10:13-14

A few weeks ago at kids camp, the band had just finished playing, the final song having a "Hallelujah" in it. Seizing the moment, the chapel speaker for the week began to ask the children about the song.

"Does anybody know what 'hallelujah' means?" the speaker asked.

Without hesitation one little girl piped up and said, "Yay!"

The speaker took this answer as a good beginning and began to explain the component of the word 'hallelujah' that indicated the name of God, at which point the children concluded that 'hallelujah' means, "Yay, God!"

I don't know if that definition would really satisfy the seminary professors, but I was touched by the truth and simplicity of the children's understanding. We adults really have a knack for complicating things, don't we?

The next day I was back in chapel, scoping things out in what I like to call my "mean mom" mode - giving kids "the eye" for distracting the others around them. A pair of boys caught my eye sitting by themselves while the others were down in front singing and dancing. These two boys were deeply involved in something that was definitely not the song being sung up front. They were laughing and poking each other, so I wandered over to check things out. What I found brought a smile to my face, and fresh hope to my heart. One of the boys had his Bible open, and he was pointing things out to the other boy. It was one of those kids' Bibles with nice color pictures interspersed through the pages. Probably they were laughing at a picture that they thought was silly, but that didn't really matter. One would turn the page and point out something else, and they would both laugh. Then the other would grab the Bible and flip some pages, and find something to show the first boy. These boys may have had no idea what song the others were singing. I'm sure they had little understanding of the significance of the words they were reading or the pictures they were laughing at. But whatever their motivation, these boys had an enjoyable encounter with God's Word that evening. And if all they got from it is that there's some funny stuff in the Bible, it's a start. Maybe it will be enough to bring them back looking for more...

And I began to wonder, do I still have any "shock and awe" as I read the Bible? Or, have I gotten so 'mature' that I cannot appreciate the awesomeness of my God and His Word like these little children were doing?

So I just want to take a minute and say, "Yay God!"

...Just a thought...