Like a Child

     There is a team coming over here in one week from the States, and they are going to do a medical clinic up here in Gulu. So over the past few days we have been trying to prepare for this by talking to the LC's (the leader of the community) and pre-registering people. Yesterday Jamie, Willy, and I went out to do this in the village around the house. We started off by getting permission from the LC in Bardege to do the clinic. After we got done with that Willy went to go get Richard, one of our friends from the village that would help us out by translating for us, and then Jamie and I went to Grace's house to get her pre-registered. Well while we were there, there were five children that were following us. While Jamie was getting Grace registered, I began to play with the children. I know none of their names (except for little Obama, of course) and none of them know mine because none of them speak any English. What we did was one of them would hold on to my left hand and another would hold on to my right, and they would begin running in circles chasing each other while I was in the center spinning circles. What I did was I would start spinning so fast that I would lift the children up into the air while I was spinning in circles. They loved doing that. We did it for a long time because once Willy got Richard, they went to talk to the LC. I got little breaks, but in what felt like seconds they were wanting to do it again. It didn't take long for me to get tired, so after a pretty good while I was just in the middle of the kids chasing each other while I was holding their hands. We continued to play for what seemed like a couple of hours. Eventually we had to move on and keep registering people, so we had to leave those kids behind to keep going.

 

     What I realized today was that those kids taught me a very important lesson. Matthew 18:1-5 says, "At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 'Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: 'Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.'" Yesterday while I was playing with those kids, I became one. As I thought about that throughout today, I began to think about what becoming a kid meant. What I came up with was living without worry, because someone else was in control and they knew what was best. Living "life to the full" (John 10:10). Having fun! Jesus wants us to be like children because children listen to their Father and trust Him. Become like children- trust the Father, listen to Him. Know that He is in control and do not worry. Live life to the full.

Me and the 5 children