In Matthew 18, Jesus talks about how we must become like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven.
But what does that mean?
Personally, I think that sometimes we overcomplicate things. We try to put God and his ways inside of our boxed in thinking. Then we wonder where He is and why we don’t see big things happening around us.
It’s when we approach the kingdom with the simplicity of a child, that we see God moves in big ways.
This week we saw that principle come to life as we partnered with one of the ministries here in Antigua called Hermano Pedro. It is a cerebral palsy hospital owned and operated by the Catholic Church. There are around 40 kids on their children’s ward, all of them with limited mobility and little ability to communicate. Our team of youth from Michigan spent some time there, and the way I watched our team interact with those kids was pretty incredible
One of the girls from our team, Alyssa, shared with us that while at the hospital, she noticed a girl by herself. It seemed that everyone had somebody but her. She sensed God telling her to go to the girl. She immediately realized why the girl was alone: she couldn’t move and couldn’t talk. She sat with her head back, eyes moving back and forth. At first, Alyssa was unsure of what to do, how to communicate with the girl. She began to rub the girls hair back. Soon, the girl closed her eyes and a beautiful smile formed on her face. Peace surrounded her. Alyssa began to cry as the power of the moment touched her. God was moving. It was simple. It was quite but God was moving. The girl couldn’t do much on her own, but she was God’s beautiful creation and He wanted to love on her that day.
One of the guys from our team, Caleb, told us about an experience with one of the kids named Alfonzo. He said that Alfonzo couldn’t walk, but he was so full of life. They spent a couple of hours together, throwing a ball back and forth, and connected in a really special and tangible way. Caleb said that he saw God in Alfonzo, and he didn’t want to leave him. Through Alfonzo, Caleb was reminded that God made everyone in His image, and that people with CP are worth no less than anyone else.
Ministry at the CP hospital is simple and childlike. Its less about words and more about actions. The basic act of throwing a ball or stroking someones hair is so impactful, and it shows so much of who Jesus is! He is love. Purely and simply. Jesus is love.
I believe more was accomplished through those small moments of obedience to the Fathers plan than if we would have had a white board strategy session about how best to impact the lives of those kids. We just showed up with the childlike faith that maybe the Lord would use us in a big way. And I believe we ALL received the blessings of that obedience and faith!
