Day 6 - 7/5/18 - 1+1=2
"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
- Ephesians 4:2
Why is 1+1 equal to two? God's grand world arises from simple mathematical statements like these, and they're so basic that we, normal people, have long since stopped trying to prove them. If we think back many, many years, however, some of us might remember times when we wondered why exactly two ones make a two. The kids we're trying to teach are, in effect, those long-faded children of our memories. Full of energy and curiosity and contrariness, 1+1 might well equal three and might even be better that way. When confronted with such attitudes, it can be hard to bear with their owners (thinkers...?) in love and far easier to simply unleash a bout of temper, but with a genuine and Godly love for each of the kids, it's possible to not only tolerate their contrarian questions but also begin sharing the one answer that explains why 1+1=2 is better and truer than 1+1=3.
Unfortunately, we woke up a bit late today, so our morning devotion (Luke 15) was somewhat rushed. Thankfully, the passage itself wasn't too complex, and we were all familiar with the parables of the lost sheep, coins, and sons. Rather than focus on ourselves in the interpretation of the parables as usual, though, we instead discussed how they were reassuring for the kids, one of whose returns to God's kingdom would cause as much celebration as the beautiful singing of hundreds of angels. This took a great burden off of us and motivated us even more to spread the gospel.
During those interim moments, we (Josh and me) stole away some time to finalize the preparation of our Taste of American Culture (TAC) presentation on America's famous sports and sports teams. At last, the time came for us to start, and immediately the kids' rowdiness today was exposed, as it was very difficult to keep them quiet and controlled. Ultimately, a combination of brilliant highlight videos, an "amazing" Methacton men's tennis chant, and some more traditional CYIA/CEF training ideas managed to get us through the presentation. Sprinting from topics like Steph Curry and his team to the overly zealous culture of American sports fandom, it certainly felt at least like some of the kids were paying full attention. We sincerely hope and pray to God that the seeds we planted using Carson Wentz' confessions of faith and Steph Curry's constant testimony might stick with the children in the future. We wrapped up the TAC time with a game of Shipwreck, which was a reasonable success.
But, again, because the kids were so alive and energetic, English lesson was extremely difficult. With the possible exception of Adam's group, each of our groups suffered from distraction and rebelliousness in the children. When we tried to share the gospel, we were each hit with various roadblocks that inhibited any effective form of understanding or meaningful gain within the children. After the immense successes in sowing seed yesterday, today's complete turnaround was disheartening. We ask that you pray for us so we might see God's strengths in these new weaknesses and catch glimpses of his greater plan as our VBS wraps up. Even as I write this, I feel the exhaustion of the day creeping up on me; please also pray for God to grant us more of His strength.
After lunch and a fun activity where the kids made their own versions of Andy Warhol paintings to put on cloth pillows, we sang Deep Down a few times to keep up with the inexorable pace of the schedule. Following our calls to the third-graders, youth, and general kids, we passed the stage on to two young adults, a church elder, Byron, and Daniel to perform a brief skit penned by Daniel based on a story of Daniel. Though Daniel was actually extremely sick in the morning, we thank the LORD he was able to recover in time to take on his absolutely critical role of Daniel in the skit. The final product was a perfect balance of humor and well-packaged information as well as a nice segue into the final calling.
Teacher Song Ling came back with the same sand video and a very similar speech to that of past years. By the time the calling actually happened, the children were in a perfect mood to be convicted of their sin and convinced to trust in Jesus. Though I didn't track exactly how many kids were saved, it was definitely an "improvement" over last year, in sheer numbers if not in heart.
With the end of the final Bible story, we turned to eating dinner. We ended up at an all-you-can eat steak dinner restaurant where we enjoyed each others' company for a few hours. From there, we really didn't do much, and I sit now in the apartment working on this blog in a haze of pure exhaustion, unable to put together two phrases into a sentence. As such, I'll leave you with this short, short blog post and hope that you pray:
- Ephesians 4:2
Why is 1+1 equal to two? God's grand world arises from simple mathematical statements like these, and they're so basic that we, normal people, have long since stopped trying to prove them. If we think back many, many years, however, some of us might remember times when we wondered why exactly two ones make a two. The kids we're trying to teach are, in effect, those long-faded children of our memories. Full of energy and curiosity and contrariness, 1+1 might well equal three and might even be better that way. When confronted with such attitudes, it can be hard to bear with their owners (thinkers...?) in love and far easier to simply unleash a bout of temper, but with a genuine and Godly love for each of the kids, it's possible to not only tolerate their contrarian questions but also begin sharing the one answer that explains why 1+1=2 is better and truer than 1+1=3.
Unfortunately, we woke up a bit late today, so our morning devotion (Luke 15) was somewhat rushed. Thankfully, the passage itself wasn't too complex, and we were all familiar with the parables of the lost sheep, coins, and sons. Rather than focus on ourselves in the interpretation of the parables as usual, though, we instead discussed how they were reassuring for the kids, one of whose returns to God's kingdom would cause as much celebration as the beautiful singing of hundreds of angels. This took a great burden off of us and motivated us even more to spread the gospel.
Once we arrived at church, the schedule was fairly typical. Rather than beginning with group games as usual, however, Kevin decided it might be better to practice the Chinese songs we would be performing at the end of the week show. Having seen how rowdy the kids were being today, no one really disagreed. A fruitful session of song and group chant-practicing time followed before the kids again tired and had to take a break from the mentally taxing effort of reciting a few song lyrics.
But, again, because the kids were so alive and energetic, English lesson was extremely difficult. With the possible exception of Adam's group, each of our groups suffered from distraction and rebelliousness in the children. When we tried to share the gospel, we were each hit with various roadblocks that inhibited any effective form of understanding or meaningful gain within the children. After the immense successes in sowing seed yesterday, today's complete turnaround was disheartening. We ask that you pray for us so we might see God's strengths in these new weaknesses and catch glimpses of his greater plan as our VBS wraps up. Even as I write this, I feel the exhaustion of the day creeping up on me; please also pray for God to grant us more of His strength.
After lunch and a fun activity where the kids made their own versions of Andy Warhol paintings to put on cloth pillows, we sang Deep Down a few times to keep up with the inexorable pace of the schedule. Following our calls to the third-graders, youth, and general kids, we passed the stage on to two young adults, a church elder, Byron, and Daniel to perform a brief skit penned by Daniel based on a story of Daniel. Though Daniel was actually extremely sick in the morning, we thank the LORD he was able to recover in time to take on his absolutely critical role of Daniel in the skit. The final product was a perfect balance of humor and well-packaged information as well as a nice segue into the final calling.
With the end of the final Bible story, we turned to eating dinner. We ended up at an all-you-can eat steak dinner restaurant where we enjoyed each others' company for a few hours. From there, we really didn't do much, and I sit now in the apartment working on this blog in a haze of pure exhaustion, unable to put together two phrases into a sentence. As such, I'll leave you with this short, short blog post and hope that you pray:
- For our hearts and bodies to be able to keep up with the Holy Spirit that you and Amy
- For the kids to be receptive and obedient for one last time
- That we might have humble and gentle hearts that are tolerant of more learning varieties.
- Everything is else up to you!
Thanks so much,
Jeremy
It seemed a fairly difficult day. But the seeds you sowed weren’t in vain, almost all the kids raised their hands to receive Jesus, hallelujah! May God empower you to finish strong this last day. Love you all 🌹
ReplyDeleteJeremy, thank you much for the updating. May holly spirit guide your team every step and every heart. 🙏🙏🙏
ReplyDelete