The Kid Watch

 The Kid Watch

 The other day as I was driving, I saw a very familiar sight. It was a neighborhood ice cream truck. It was something I’ve seen hundreds of times and had eaten my share of its delightful treats. On the back of the truck was this sign for following motorists: WATCH OF KIDS. Excellent advice for sure since a child was likely to dart out of a house to buy a treat and not think about watching for a car. This same is true about the same child now totally absorbed in eating, or even devouring that delicious melting treat. Either way, that sign on the back of that ice cream truck told me it was my responsibility to make sure those kids came and went safely.

 Children play a large part throughout the bible. David was a young teenager when he slew the giant, Goliath. Then there are the three children thrown into the fiery furnace. Of course, Moses was a small baby when he was found and adopted into that royal Egyptian family. His education and training was God’s way of preparing him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and to the Promised Land. Abraham followed God’s orders and prepared t sacrifice his son. By following God’s orders, he began the journey to found a nation when God rewarded his faithfulness and provided a sheep to be slain and offered up in Isaac’s place. In the New Testament, Jesus told his followers to let the little children come to him, when they would have kept them away. There is also his admonition that unless we are as little children, we will not get to enter Heaven.

 How can you, and me, be as little children? How about not taking our faith, our beliefs, for granted. They are gifts freely given to us by God. It is fair to question what we don’t know or understand, but once we have our answer, then act on it as a child would.

 Do you look at your faith full of questions or even debate? There are many variations of Christianity and beliefs in God. Some even go far as to say if you don’t follow that particular version, you won’t go to heaven. It isn’t up to that version and its followers to determine that. That smacks of Pride, one of the deadly sins. God decides who gets to share his eternity.

 So it is up to you to be a child of God, regardless of the number of birthdays you have stacked up behind you.

 Will you be a child of God? It is his gift and wish. It is up to you to accept it.