The Faith of A Child

On a camping trip to Inks Lake this weekend I was confronted with a scene of indescribable beauty.  There by the shore of the lake, was my 6 year old step daughter reading a book to a young boy of the same age.  He was from a neighboring campsite and within minutes they had become close friends.  Something I wish adults could do as easily as these two did, but that is another discussion for another time.  The sun had just come up, the weather was perfect, and we were busy packing up all of our gear to begin the drive home.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw these two children by the water and I stopped to enjoy.  Here we were so busy with the stuff of life that we could not enjoy the life we were so deperately tying to live, but these two youngsters had it figured out.  What I witnessed was serene, remarkable.  My step daughter was teaching this boy stories from her children's story bible.  There in that moment all of eternity stopped existing and all that was left was innocence.  She was not trying to convert this boy, she wasn't trying to become a preacher, and she was not wanting the whole world to see how productive of a christian she was.  All she wanted to do was tell her new friend about a God that created the heavens and Earth and about a Savior that laid down His life for us all.  I don't know what they talked about, and it doesn't matter.  I saw Jesus in her at that moment. She displayed no denomination, no tradition, just pure selflessness. My first reaction was to take pride in how well I was modeling Jesus to her since becoming her step dad.  My pride swelled up and I wanted everyone to see it.  Hence the photo.  Believe it or not, that's exactly why I started writing this blog post.  However, once I started I got convicted and had to change the purpose of this post.  Never in my 5 1/2 yrs of being a christian have I ever done what she did.  It made me laugh to think of her teaching me, of her showing me how to be like Jesus, that is exactly what she did.  I can tell you all about doctrine, and theology, denominations and traditions, and I have even discipled many people, but I have never done anything as pure as that little girl did on the edge of that lake.  I am in awe of it even now.  I want my heart to be like hers, I want my mission to become like hers, and I want to be that innocent in my purpose.  She fulfilled the great commission without even knowing what it is. She showed me that I have a long way to go to have faith like a child.  They say it took Picasso years to learn how to draw like a child, how long will it take for us to have faith like one.  I pray that it will be sooner rather than later.  When she got in the truck, there was no mention of what she had done, if I had shared the gospel with that boys family you can believe it is all I would have talked about on the way home.  Lord God, please allow me to die enough to self to become like she was in that moment.  Let us all be willing to tell people about You the way she did, please destroy the walls we put up keeping us from that quick friendship and renew in us a steadfast spirit able to operate in innocence.

Thank you God for letting me see that moment in time.
I will forever be changed.
Eddie Franz