- A member of the first church I served shared a memorable story with me about her precious young daughter Caroline. One Sunday afternoon, this young mom found her daughter standing in front of a mirror in their house wearing her bathrobe and holding a Bible. When the mom asked the child what she was doing, she said she was a preacher like Pastor Lynn. My heart was deeply touched, and I thought to myself I would never have imagined myself a preacher when I was playing make-believe as a child. It wasn't something a young girl of my generation would have been able to do! Yet, God had given me the opportunity to influence the life of this young girl and others like her by opening to them new possibilities. Thanks, Caroline, for helping me understand that I am a role model for young girls who may hear a call to preach God's Word! My mom was right when she told me as a young girl to be mindful of how I lived my life because others would be watching!
- When I arrived at my new church for the first day, the children were in Vacation Bible School. I was being introduced to the children when one young girl spoke up and said, "I don't want a new pastor." Well, you can imagine the horror on the faces of the adults. They quickly began to correct her, but I told them it was okay because she was only being honest. I walked up to the little girl and told her that if she didn't want a new pastor, it must mean that she loved Pastor George, the pastor who had just retired. I went on to say to her that her love for Pastor George was a good thing because when we love people, our hearts grow bigger and make room for us to love more people. I went on to say I believed her heart was big enough to love Pastor George and maybe someday love me too. She seemed satisfied with my explanation. Three years later when I was appointed to serve another church, this same child three years older, came to me before I left and said, "I don't want another pastor." She smiled as she said it because she remembered our conversation when I first arrived. We just hugged each other because we both knew and understood that she would surely love again! O Lord, that we adults would risk loving as freely as your little ones!
- I believe it was Art Linkletter who said,"Children say the darndest things!" And he was right, as I learned at one Christmas Eve Service during the Children's Moment. As I told the children the story of Mary and Joseph being turned away from the inn because there was no room for them there and was about to tell them that Jesus was born in a stable, one little boy beat me to it by blurting out, "Jesus was born in a horse house!" Now I wasn't sure I had heard him correctly. I thought to myself, "Did he just say what I think he said? If he did, what am I going to say in response to that?" Now in case you're unsure of what I was thinking, just look back at what the child said and imagine what that would sound like coming from the mouth of an excited young child who runs his words together on Christmas Eve, "Jesus was born in a horse house!" And the congregation saw the surprise on my face and began to laugh. They knew my discomfort. And I just said, "Well, a stable could be called a horse house!" And indeed it could. I just love children, don't you?
Unless you change and become like children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:
Copyright 2009 Lynn W. Dimon
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