King's Kids

Friday night was a night of bad smells, huge smiles, loud laughs, praise and worship, hearts of gold, and deep wisdom. It was a night of youth group at our house. I arrived to the house a bit late, about 7:10 to find over 35 middle school students in our living room. They were running around crazy covering each other in toilet paper. It is amazing how easy it is to entertain MS kids! J We played a few more games and then it was time to get serious. Daylan reminded the kids what it meant to come before God in singing. She led them in a few songs, which they actually sang and it sounded pretty good. It was one of those moments, standing in between all the kids, that I could feel God smiling down on us. After the singing Daylan spoke to them about living each day for God. She started by asking them four questions 1) Why were you born? 2) What is life all about? 3) What brings you true joy? 4) What is eternal life? After she asked them questions and they were about to write their answers, Sam raised his hand and asked, “Miss Arnold do you want our real answers, or what we are supposed to write?” It was so cool to see him really thinking about it. Some of their answers were really great. They said they were born: to fulfill a purpose, to bring joy to God, to do what God had planned, to fulfill a unique purpose with the gifts God has given them. Scott pointed out that some of us may feel like we have a big purpose, while others feel they only have a small role to play; but the important part was that we were fulfilling our purpose and bringing glory to God. They really stunned with the question about eternal life. I have to admit I was expecting something like “life that goes on forever” or answers like that. Instead they said, “eternal life is too hard to grasp, to hard for us to understand” they went on to say it was something that we had to look forward to without really knowing what it is. They said it was spending forever with God. And although we cannot really understand or explain what it is, we also cannot imagine going through life without the hope of eternal life.
Daylan and I were so encouraged by the kids once the last ones left at about 9:30. And believe me it was not because they were perfect angels who had left our house just as they had come. But it was deeper than that. It was about the hearts of these kids. Their love and passion and knowledge of God at such a young age. One eighth grade girl that I got really close to last semester transferred to the International School of Kenya. I was really sad to see JC leave and was kind of concerned about what it would be like for her not going to a Christian school anymore. I haven’t seen JC for awhile although we have talked on the phone a few times. She came to Kings Kids and right before Daylan got done JC asked if she could share something with the kids. She asked for them to pray for her at her new school. She went on to say how much she missed them all and wished she could still be with them, but she knew what her purpose was. She could feel God telling her that she needed to tell these kids about who He is. So, she has been doing that. She said it is not easy but she really wants to keep sharing about God. I almost started to cry, just seeing how deep her heart was. Her passion at such a young age to be a light in a dark place. God is so good to us! Please continue to pray for my ministry with these kids. Pray that I will be able to challenge them and encourage them as much as they do for me!