As many of you already know, I am a father of seven children. I make it a practice every day to raise up my children to the Lord and ask for His blessing on their lives as they grow. I mainly do this because even though it is my job to work to take care of their needs, I have to acknowledge the fact that I cannot do that sufficiently without the Lord's blessing. If I try to do this under my own power, I may fall under the example of many who work all day and feel that a paycheck alone is caring for their children's needs. These parents end up never knowing who their children really are. I could also be a parent that is involved in every aspect of their child's life and end up seeing my children drift away because they are tired of looking at me. All of this to say that I can't be everything for my children, but as a parent who loves and serves the Lord, I must acknowledge that He can be everything to them. I admit that I need the Lord's help when it comes to raising my children.
In reading Matthew 19:13-15 and Mark 10:13-16, I find that there are various perspectives that can be taken concerning the parents bringing their children to Jesus. It is easy to look at the disciples and become indignant in their refusal to allow the parents to bother Jesus with their children while He is teaching. In Mark 10:14, even Jesus became indignant about that. We can look at the perspective of Jesus as His an opportunity to teach about how to come to the kingdom of God. Many have written whole entire books on this, but I want to focus on the perspective of the parents.
As a parent, we want what is best for our children. We search out the best schools. We shop for the best clothes. We try our best to give our children what we know that they need, and these parents in the Bible knew that a blessing from Jesus was one of the greatest honors that they could provide for their children. I would like to think that when Jesus talked about the faith of the children being the key to the kingdom that there may have been a moment when he looked at the parents and smiled. I firmly believe He knew that they had the faith of a child to bring their children to Him for His blessing. I would love to recognize these parents who knew that they were not sufficient enough to give their children everything, but sought the Lord's blessing knowing that through Him, their children's needs could be met.
My desire is to pursue our Lord in ministry to children with special needs and their families, and as I pursue it, I am always trying to find ways to provide an opportunity to reach out to them with the message of Christ. However, I have to heed the warning that comes from the disciples' example. If I find that what I do in ministry prevents an opportunity to holistically meet the needs of an entire family, then woe to me for stepping in the Lord's way. An example of this would be to plan out a marriage enrichment activity and not provide anything for the children to do at the same time. What a great opportunity and testimony a ministry could have when the parents have trust that in their search to understand God that they can place their very precious treasure, their children, in the hands of people who will be a blessing from the Lord to them. As a minister, I can't help but to look at these parents who desire the best for their children by bringing them to the Lord, and wholeheartedly let them come into His presence by providing opportunities to care for the whole family and not just focusing on the needs of one or the other.
Jesus taught the disciples that the only way to enter His kingdom is as a child. This is a faith that we tend to lose when we focus on our own personal needs and not on the big picture of reaching to others. The disciples had a lesson in this earlier when they argued over who was the greatest in the kingdom, and Jesus corrected them by using the example of a child. Once again, they failed to listen and could have very well disillusioned a group of parents who desired to reach out to the Lord on behalf of their children. Jesus saw the faith of these parents and the actions that they were taking and knew that this was probably one of the greatest teaching moments available. When we acknowledge our inability to meet our needs, and look to Him as the one who can sufficiently meet our crucial need which is a relationship with God through Him, that is when we show faith as a child and truly see the way to salvation. When we come to Jesus Christ knowing that we have a debt due to our sins, and acknowledge that He can forgive us of our sins and establish a right relationship with Him, we have the faith of a child, and we can become a part of the kingdom of God. What are we doing today to allow "little ones" to come to Christ? Are we gearing our ministries to meet one particular need or are we focusing on the fact that our Lord wants us to reach out completely and holistically when it comes to ministry to children and their families?
Monday, June 22, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The Personal Development of Hinder Not
Hinder Not is the manifestation of God’s work in my life over the last nine years. During that time, I became a father of seven wonderful children. I also had the opportunity to be a Sunday Bible fellowship teacher to 1st and 3rd graders, a large group teacher for 3rd through 5th graders, and an activities director for Kindergartners up to 5th graders. However, I experienced my most eye opening work when I was a special education teacher.
For two years I had the opportunity to see children in their most common element – school. I heard and witnessed the toils and struggles of the students trying to master basic skills in order to progress into knowledgeable adults some day. My primary work was with children who struggled harder than most to learn. As I taught them strategies, I also had the opportunity to find out more about their life. One student in particular had a hard time staying awake during school. I asked her why and the she told me that after school she went to work with her parents. They finished work at midnight and would either go grocery shopping or do laundry at the laundromat. She told me that most nights she would get to bed close to 2:00 in the morning. I shuddered at the thought of this and my heart grew in desire to find ways to minister to my students.
After the spring of 2007, I was laid off as a teacher and had plenty of time to think of ways to minister to children with special needs and their families. I also had the blessing of putting my experience to the test in the church we had attended for several years. A handsome young boy with autism was coming to the point of possibly being transferred from the preschool hallway to the elementary hallway up stairs. A child with autism already has trouble with transitions and this move would be like you taking a trip to another country without knowing the language, customs, or ways of its people. The parents and grandparents were very concerned, so I was asked to help smooth out the transition. After communicating with the boy’s family, I learned that he was not moving up to kindergarten that year and was entering a new treatment program. I learned more about the program and began to train his teachers and the ministry staff on ways to work with him. That year was a big success for him and the people around him. The next year he was transitioning to kindergarten and everyone was ready to make it happen. The transition went well and a new vision was added to the calling God had placed on my life when I surrendered to the ministry at the age of seventeen. That experience is what I consider as the birth of Hinder Not.
As a young ministry, I see that many more relationships and experiences will help to mold the work of this ministry. The primary goal is grounded on Matthew 19:13-15 where Jesus commanded that that the disciples should not hinder the parents from bringing their children to Him. Hinder Not is here to help make the ministries of churches inclusive to the special needs community, their families, and their other caregivers. Please make it a point in your prayer time lift this new ministry up. If you have any questions please email me at wayd2him@live.com or call me at (770) 592-2125 or (404) 308-4696.
For two years I had the opportunity to see children in their most common element – school. I heard and witnessed the toils and struggles of the students trying to master basic skills in order to progress into knowledgeable adults some day. My primary work was with children who struggled harder than most to learn. As I taught them strategies, I also had the opportunity to find out more about their life. One student in particular had a hard time staying awake during school. I asked her why and the she told me that after school she went to work with her parents. They finished work at midnight and would either go grocery shopping or do laundry at the laundromat. She told me that most nights she would get to bed close to 2:00 in the morning. I shuddered at the thought of this and my heart grew in desire to find ways to minister to my students.
After the spring of 2007, I was laid off as a teacher and had plenty of time to think of ways to minister to children with special needs and their families. I also had the blessing of putting my experience to the test in the church we had attended for several years. A handsome young boy with autism was coming to the point of possibly being transferred from the preschool hallway to the elementary hallway up stairs. A child with autism already has trouble with transitions and this move would be like you taking a trip to another country without knowing the language, customs, or ways of its people. The parents and grandparents were very concerned, so I was asked to help smooth out the transition. After communicating with the boy’s family, I learned that he was not moving up to kindergarten that year and was entering a new treatment program. I learned more about the program and began to train his teachers and the ministry staff on ways to work with him. That year was a big success for him and the people around him. The next year he was transitioning to kindergarten and everyone was ready to make it happen. The transition went well and a new vision was added to the calling God had placed on my life when I surrendered to the ministry at the age of seventeen. That experience is what I consider as the birth of Hinder Not.
As a young ministry, I see that many more relationships and experiences will help to mold the work of this ministry. The primary goal is grounded on Matthew 19:13-15 where Jesus commanded that that the disciples should not hinder the parents from bringing their children to Him. Hinder Not is here to help make the ministries of churches inclusive to the special needs community, their families, and their other caregivers. Please make it a point in your prayer time lift this new ministry up. If you have any questions please email me at wayd2him@live.com or call me at (770) 592-2125 or (404) 308-4696.
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