Becky Crenshaw

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them… Luke 18:15

Here’s a snap shot from my conversation with Luke last night while at the ball field:

Luke: (pointing to center field) God is out there.

Me:  Yes. And right here (pointing right). And right there (pointing left). He’s everywhere!

Luke: giggles… And He is in here (pointing to his chest)

Me: He is!?

Pause – Just so you know, we’ve been praying for the soil of Luke’s heart to be tender to the things of God.  He has always been a little squeamish about praying, Bible time, and all things Jesus.  Which, as you could imagine, bothers this Jesus-lovin’ woman. So I investigated further…

Me:  Ooooo!  Mommy would love to talk to you more about asking Jesus into your heart and what that means.

Luke: I already did that.

Me:  Did what?

Luke:  Asked Jesus into my heart.  The other day.  When we were driving in the van.

Well. OK.

Just like that.

My first-born asked Jesus into his heart over a half-eaten hotdog one night at dinner.  My second asked Jesus into his heart while playing LEGOS in the playroom while Brent was mowing the grass.  And now, Luke… the oh-so-third-kid, asked Jesus into his heart.  In the van the other day.

People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them.  But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Luke 18:15-17 NIV

Everything in me wants to over-analyze, over-explain and over-ride the very real and very five-year-old experience Luke had in the backseat with a very Omnipresent God.  But the Holy Spirit stops me.  Because the Bible doesn’t tell me to over-think it, the Bible says just to “bring my babies.”  Because when we do that… he places his hands on them. And blessing comes.

Sometimes they are playing LEGOS.  Sometimes they are eating dinner.

We don’t pray for how  he does it.  We just pray… “Jesus please.”

I find myself as much like an overly anxious disciple as I do the parents in the passage.  Trying to manipulate the who, how and when of my boys’ understanding of salvation.  Thinking it best to wait until my kiddos are a little older to “get it”.  But Jesus says all along that we should all live a little like Luke.  Because it is the Luke-kind-of-faith that enters one into the lap of Jesus.

Do you want to over-analyze your child’s experiences with Jesus?  Like me?

Let Him bless them over hot dogs. Or on the way home from preschool while driving in the van “the other day.”

Because Luke is oh-so-right.  God is out there and right here and right there.  He is with you right where you sit.  And with me, too.

Oh, what an Omnipresent, Ever-Present God we serve!

It is just as simple and as profound as that.

Lord today, in faith, I bring my babies to you.  Let me not be the one who hinders them come.  Will you reach out your hands and bless them today, Lord?!  Meet them at preschool, in second grade spelling, as sixteen-year-old sophomores or in the middle of lunch over a half-eaten hot dog.  I don’t care how you touch them Lord, I just ask “Jesus please.”  Change their lives today by the very real touch of your hand.  It’s in the name of our Emmanuel, Jesus Christ, I pray,  Amen.