matthew 19:14

Matthew 19:14 - Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.

I have two stories that explain this verse.

One of the most touching moments for me at Faithwalkers was during worship when I saw these 4 kids, probably ages 5-8 jumping up and down praising God. Where I was standing, nobody was really doing that at all. These kids must have seen the people at the front and center stage jumping up and down and decided this is how they wanted to praise God as well.

I was so touched I almost went up right next to them to jump with them! I was thinking about how in a world where so many kids are influenced by movies they shouldn't see and bad role models to swear and fight and tell dirty jokes, these kids were being influenced in a positive way to praise God.

Ok, now for my second story. I've written before about my sister, Amy, who is 12 and the sweetest girl on the earth. Yesterday, I got a letter in the mail from her in her traditional "Coconut" stationary. For those of you who aren't on the up and up in pre-teen girl trends, Coconut is a white dog that has all these outfits you can buy for it (it's part of the American Girl's dolls collection). Along with the letter came one $20 bill, one 10, four 5's, and ten 1's - no lie.

Dear Karl,
How are you? In this envelope is $60 donated from me to you as a missionary. I hope you can use this money to help tell others about God. How is Maren? Do you know when you are next going to visit? We are about to leave to AWANA so I'd better stop writing.
God Bless You, Amy Quickert

PS This wasn't actually my idea, it's a section in our AWANA book, but I still hope you can use the money.

Needless to say Maren and I were blown away. She's 12. 12 years old and she's giving me $60. What an example to me and to others! The fact that she sent it in big wads of cash makes me wonder if my parents were even aware of what she was doing. If they knew, I'm guessing they would have sent along a check instead.

God, PLEASE answer the faith of my little sister and use this money to tell others about You.

Thank you card

Have you ever received a gift in the mail and unwrap it to unveal an appliance box? And often times, you open up the box, and the gift is really something completely different?

Maren and I decided to send our grandparents a framed wedding picture for Christmas.

Yesterday, Maren and I received a thank you card from my grandparents thanking us for the waffle-maker. We just hope they didn't try and return it the store!