Day 24 & 25 - Let the crazy begin. #45daysofsummer

WELL... The week ahead is already looking TOTALLY different.

It's a camp for kids aged 10-17 to learn football and English, so has a really different feel to the last camp. I am not only helping as a cleaner, but also as an English speaker and I have also been promoted to Monitor, which means I have a group of 5 girls who I'm responsible for during the week. This means chatting with them about the devotional, making sure they're speaking English, have everything they need for activities, are brushing their teeth, getting enough sleep etc.. Their names are: Elena, Matilde, Marina, Esther and Maria! They are lovely but it feels like a big responsibility, particularly with the language barrier.

The Brazilians are also here - a huge group of them! - and they are here to coach the kids in football during the day and help out the rest of the time.

Meal times are going to be in English (at least, that's the intention!) and the campers will spend 3-4 hours in the morning in playing football / training, before spending the rest of the day at the pool and camp. While this probably sounds like a bit of a vacation, we have to be with them for most of this time and when not, we have cleaning duties or preparation for activities etc.. So it's going to be a full on week! The schedule is so full and we are only at the house that has WiFi for 1 hour a day (for group games!) So I will have very little time to write but I will do what I can and next week resume posts as normal! Today, instead of going to the football sessions, a few of us stayed at the camp to clean and do some prep so I have found a tiny bit of time to write now but the kids get back in about 15mins so I need to head off!

Well needed cuppa before everyone arrived yesterday!

Cut out, drew and coloured in almost 60 little footballs today!

Have already learnt the memory verse from today.. Philippians 2:3 about humility!

I also managed to take loads of pictures at the concert the other night (which was fantastic although started at 11pm, so I was absolutely shattered!) but when I get a moment, I'll be sure to upload them!! :D there's also a video floating around on Facebook somewhere which I will try and find & post! Right, off for lunch and then its siesta time! Hurray for time in the schedule to nap!

Out of the mouth of babes

My next door neighbour's Grand-daughter is six years old. Her name is Lucy.

Yesterday afternoon when she got back from school, she came round to our house to listen to me play guitar for a while (she has a guitar too, and hopes to start having lessons soon).

I played for her a song I wrote from Psalm 113 about giving God all the praise He is due.

Let the name of the LORD be praised,

both now and forever more.
From the rising of the sun, until the night falls.

He will be exalted over all the nations,

His glory above the heavens.

Who is like the LORD our God? Not one!
Hallelujah, praise the LORD!

Not to us, LORD, not to us

But to Your name be the glory

Because of Your love and faithfulness.

I wasn't sure whether she would understand it, but it was short and sweet and she seemed to enjoy it!

As she sat on the sofa, we talked about her day and school and the band she's in with two of her friends. She sang to me two of the songs they've written at breaktime, zero to twenty and I used to be a dragon.

This kid is one sweet, creative little bean.

She went on to tell me the story she wrote last week in her literacy class, about a dragon (common theme!) who couldn't find his mother, and she embellished it with different voices for each character. She hopes they'll read it out at the assembly her class is doing next Wednesday. Her line in the assembly (which she already knows verbatim) is 'Now would you please put your hands together and bow your heads and say this prayer with us'.

She also told me about how much she loves learning about space and the solar system. She can name all 9 planets in order, which they don't learn in school until year five she told me! And then she explained the Big Bang Theory to me...

'Before the big bang there was nothing. There was no time or people or air, there was just nothing. And then I don't know what, but something just sort of, exploded. And then there was the world. And eventually humans came, after the dinosaurs...'

This little six-year old loves learning and reading books. She soaks up information like a dry sponge, and can tell you all about what she's read. She's beautiful and so advanced for her age.

But her words struck me. Like I was being hit with a big stick.

'before... there was nothing...'

She's read in one of these books, that before the world came into existence there was absolutely nothing. And out of nothing, something exploded and the world was created.

That's all.

She went on to tell me more about her day, but I couldn't leave it like that. Believing that there was just nothing. But how do you start a conversation about God with a six-year old? How do I correct her, and tell her that the book wasn't exactly right in saying that there was 'nothing'?

I almost held my tongue.

But then I thought of her, growing up, and never hearing about or getting the chance to believe in our great God. I thought of her as a teenager, coming over to tell me about her day at school, and the chance of the conversation ever turning to God, when she's telling me that Science is her favourite subject and the details of the Big Bang Theory, and about boys and music etc.etc.etc.

What better time than this to introduce her to Him? To put her straight on some of those details that the book missed out.

So I asked her about the line she has to say in her assembly next week and when they pray at school, does she know who they pray to? She said 'Oh no one in particular but this is what we say...' I can't remember the prayer she recited, but it started off 'May God grant us....' and went on for about 8 lines.

I told her that when she prays that she's talking to God. We spoke about Him for a little while. She believes in Him and has read the Bible before, and we talked of how He lives in Heaven but also here on Earth with us, and that He lives inside those who ask Him to live in them. He helps us live our lives and we can talk to Him by praying. And I told her that before the Big Bang, when there was nothing, the Bible actually tells us that there was something; there was God. And He created the Earth and that was probably a Big Bang!

Her little face lit up as she understood, and that 'I don't know how but something sort of exploded' all of a sudden made sense to her. She concluded that God must have made the world and humans because He was lonely...!

And there the conversation ended, because she's six and her attention span, although unusually long, is still that of a six-year old!

She wanted to see the snails, and finish her blueberry muffin, and see if by lying down on the lawn she could spot the baby blackbird who has been living in the bush at the bottom of our garden...

Then she went back next door to say hello to her Grandad (apparently on arrival at their house she ran straight up the drive and said hi to my dad, before coming over to find me!)

...

I came home later that evening, and my mom said she saw Pauline (Lucy's Grandma) earlier. She told her that when Lucy went in after being round ours, she wrote a song about Jesus.

I thought about it for a while, (I am currently thanking God for prompting me to talk to her about Him when He did!!) and realised that throughout the entire conversation, I hadn't spoken about Jesus. In my song I sang 'LORD' and we'd only spoken about 'God'.

She'd gone away and written a song about Jesus.

I can only think that it was the Holy Spirit giving her the words and connecting the dots!

Matt 21:15-16 - But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'?"

Amen!

The children knew who He truly was, even thought the chief priests and teachers of the law didn't.

Oh and I've learned a lesson through all of this.

Christ, His death and Resurrection are essential to the Gospel.

It's only through Him we have access to the Father.

Telling people about Father God only is only telling part of the truth!

It's like telling a man lost in a desert and dying of thirst, that there is an oasis, a fresh spring of water to re-hydrate and refresh him! But then not telling him where it is or how to get there...

Plenty of people today believe in a 'god', some even believe in Father God, but they don't know Jesus.

Without Him, we can not truly know the Father.

Hungry for the Word!

So i'm sitting there, right. And i'm thinking about the LORD (as you do), and about life lessons and sound teaching i've heard from good people.

And then it just sort of dawned on me.

A wise woman once told me that reading your bible, is like eating meals.

"Sometimes," she told me, "you don't even feel hungry, but you eat anyway because you know that you need to eat to stay alive. And sometimes you just eat because you like eating, and it tastes good and you get cravings that you want to fulfil! You don't just need food to stay alive though, it's not all about survival, but growth. Babies need to eat for growth and repair, same with children, and even adults. You (we!) just need food."

And in the same way, we need to read our Bible. Not just to stay alive, but for growth and repair.

Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16 that 'All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training..'

It's never a waste of time. ever.

My favourite part of the conversation with this wise friend of mine went like this though;

Rebecca - "What did you eat for dinner this time last year?"

Me - "Erm... Really? I have no idea."

Rebecca - "Alright, how about last tuesday?"

Me - "....I can't remember."

Rebecca - "OK, well what was the best meal you ever had?"

Me - "Erm.... Oh gosh, well, oh yeah OK, when I was younger my mom used to always make this soup with these tiny little pasta shapes in... ohh no actually, there's this dish at Big Wok called Egg Foo Yung and i've actually never tasted anything like it, or nooo there was that time I went out for my friends birthday and-"

Rebecca - "Now you don't necessarily remember what you ate last year, or even last week, but I guarantee those meals gave you energy to continue through the day, even though you probably didn't think about it. But you do remember the really good meals, the ones that mean the most or taste the best, and you can recall what they were, when you need to."

Again, this is like reading Bible reading.

And this encourages me in a morning, to get up and read His Word, regardless of whether I'm completely shattered and have a 10am lecture to get to.

It's unlikely that I'll remember everything I read or study. But it's never wasted, it gives me energy, it makes me spiritually healthy and it gives me nutrients to store up and draw on when the time is right. And then every so often, I'll have an incredible meal, I'll read something specifically relevant or God will reveal something new and invigorating, and I'll remember it and it will be a defining moment and a meal I'll remember for a long time.

But I need to remember that most times when I read my Bible won't be like that.

But they are just as important.

And so the thing that dawned on me?

(and i'm not sure if it's theologically sound yet, but it's a cool concept with regards to the theme of food and bible reading yay!)

"In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God..." (John 1:1-2)

This word was breathed out and things were formed and other such cool things.

And it goes on to say that "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

So this 'Word' (logos) they are referring to is Jesus, yes? He became flesh, and He dwelt among us in around about 2 AD.

And the Bible, is also the word of God (remember that 2 Tim 3:16 verse!) and therefore, Jesus is the Word of God: the Bible... In a sort of weird, supernatural way.

Let's just say Jesus = the Word = the Bible.

Yeah?

OK so another thing about Jesus is that He declared "I am the Bread of Life." (John 6:35)

And so not only is Jesus the WORD (i.e. the Bible) he is also the BREAD of Life.

For the mathematical among us then, Jesus = Word + Bread.

And there you go. That was my revelation moment. That Jesus even told us that he's the bread of life, He's the food we need to survive, and grow, a be repaired and yet we can enjoy it too. And we get this bread through reading His word, feeding on it, chewing it over, savouring every syllable, every word and verse and letting it satisfy that hunger inside.

Man, our God is good. And having just got back in to reading my Bible, I remember now, how good His word tastes.

Mmmm...

Bon Appetite!! (And thanks God, for the good food!!)