Matthew 18:5 says: \u201cAnd\u00a0whosever receives\u00a0one\u00a0such\u00a0child\u00a0in My\u00a0name\u00a0receives\u00a0Me\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
I was about seven years old the first time I ever went to a summer youth camp. It was about the first time I\u2019d ever even been away from home without mom and dad. But before we get into this too far, I need to make sure you understand that Indian Cave Youth Camp was NOTHING like our modern, air-conditioned cabins that we have for many of our camps today.\u00a0 NOTHING like it at all – not even close. Let\u2019s say the word \u201crustic,\u201d well, it was quite the compliment!<\/p>\n
I can remember that camp like it was yesterday.\u00a0 There was no air conditioning. There were cinderblock wall cabins, bathhouses you had to walk a country mile to get to, screen windows that didn\u2019t shut even with the rain, luke-warm water at best, and creepy-crawlies in every nook and cranny possible! It was a far cry from my cozy bed in the safety of my mom and dad! I was so incredibly homesick that I could barely function without crying. \u00a0Somewhere near the beginning of the week, I remember sitting off somewhere just crying, so desperately wanting to go home, but struggling to stay and make the most of it.\u00a0 I could imagine my mom and dad at home, and what it would feel like to hug them, and sleep in my bed with all of my stuffed animals surrounding me.<\/p>\n
As I was sitting there crying, one of the camp staff named Byron Jones made his way over to me. He quietly knelt and asked me what was wrong. In my squeaky little 7-year-old tearful voice, I told him how much I missed my parents and that I just wanted to go home. As I poured out my heart, he gently listened to me. He didn\u2019t make light of my tears or how I felt.\u00a0 It was important to him, and <\/em>I was important to him. Then he told me that he knew a little something that he thought would make me feel better \u2013 that he\u2019d be back in a minute. Little did I know, he would return minutes later with an ice-cold can of Coca-Cola. Yep, I don\u2019t think I\u2019d ever had a Coke taste better than that one did that day. As we enjoyed our ice-cold drinks, we sat on a couple of old tree stumps and just talked. He assured me that he was my new friend and that if I needed him, he would be there. He told me I was going to have the best week at camp and that I wouldn\u2019t want to miss it for anything!<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure how long we talked that day or even all that we talked about exactly, but I can say for sure that my week was forever changed. I think I was forever changed. I made it through that week of camp and went to several camps after that summer. But I never forgot about Byron or our talk, or that can of Coke. I know there wasn\u2019t anything special about that can of Coca-Cola, but he made me feel like I was the most important person in the world that day. As a child, that meant the world to me.\u00a0 He could have been doing anything else at that moment, but he chose to talk with me and care about me. I couldn\u2019t articulate it then, but almost 40 years later, I still haven\u2019t forgotten it. The fact that he took 10 minutes out of his crazy, hectic, tiring camp schedule, and took time to comfort a homesick little girl, was no small thing, especially to my 7-year-old heart.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve heard it said before, that people might forget what you say, or what you do, but they\u2019ll never forget how you made them feel. Sometimes we get so busy going and doing that we forget about the why.\u00a0 Why we do what we do? Why do we even have youth camps at all?\u00a0 Why are we in ministry? In scripture, Jesus often speaks of children and their importance. Shaping their hearts is one of the most important things we can do. Children often just need someone to listen to them. To realize that what they’re feeling or saying is important, that they are important. Children never forget the kindness we show them or the times we listen to them and try to explain what happened at school, on the playground, in the computer lab, or at recess. I know it takes an extra measure of grace and patience to listen sometimes, especially when we\u2019re tired. When we\u2019re exhausted in every way possible, known to man because we\u2019ve worked all day, so hard, and no one has taken the time to listen to us: when the laundry is piled eight loads high on the couch, when the dishes are crusted over and the stench hits you as you approach the sink, and when the floors haven\u2019t been mopped in who knows when and we crave 10 minutes by ourselves uninterrupted.<\/p>\n But God calls us to love children and to shape their hearts after Him: to teach them His ways, to teach them His Word, to teach them to forgive the kid at school who\u2019s mean to them even when they didn\u2019t say they were sorry, to love people who don\u2019t love them back, to love God more than anyone or anything, and to guide them as they navigate this road, we call life. And it\u2019s not easy, whether you\u2019re a parent, teacher, pastor, children\u2019s ministry worker\u2026no matter your role. If you touch the life of a child, you\u2019ve touched the heart of God. Don\u2019t take your role lightly. Remember that they will never forget the time you take with them. The smile you give them. The love and forgiveness you model daily. The simple things like tying their shoes for them or helping them up after they\u2019ve fallen. It\u2019s all important because they are important. Allow God to give you His heart for them and an extra measure of love, grace, and patience. Take time to shape their heart to look like Him. They won\u2019t ever forget it.<\/p>\n Today, almost 40 years later, I work at the Cornerstone Conference helping to plan and organize the very youth camps that so deeply impacted and changed my life. I am also in full-time ministry with my husband and our five children. \u00a0Five beautiful, loving, healthy children who at times can test my patience and walk with God more than anyone ever could, but that I love more than life itself and cry at the thought of them going to college and leaving home. But as I think and pray for their future, I pray for people like Byron Jones to come into their lives. People who will love them and take time with them when their dad and I aren\u2019t there. I know without a doubt that I wouldn\u2019t be who I am, or even where I am today, if it hadn\u2019t been for my family, and people like Byron Jones all along the way who cared about me. Who loved me and took time with me as a child and prayed for me and shaped my heart. God is a good God.\u00a0 A faithful God. I encourage you today to take time to show the children around you who God is. They\u2019re listening, waiting for us to share the truth. They crave it. They need it. Their hearts will be shaped one way or the other\u2026make sure we’ve taken the time to shape it in His image.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":6205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,4],"tags":[940,704,216,22,1248,1249,167,1206,1205],"class_list":{"0":"post-6204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-childrens-ministries","8":"category-discipleship-ministries","9":"tag-940","10":"tag-all-generations","11":"tag-children","12":"tag-kids-ministries","13":"tag-leah-mccullar","14":"tag-mentor","15":"tag-parenting","16":"tag-quarter-4","17":"tag-successful-in-witness","18":"entry"},"title_es":"Dando forma a sus corazones","content_es":"Mateo 18: 5 dice: \"Y el que recibe a uno de esos ni\u00f1os en mi nombre me recibe a m\u00ed ...\" Ten\u00eda unos siete a\u00f1os la primera vez que fui a un campamento juvenil de verano. Era la primera vez que hab\u00eda estado fuera de casa sin mam\u00e1 y pap\u00e1. Pero antes de llegar a esto demasiado lejos, necesito asegurarme de que entiendan que Indian Cave Youth Camp no era NADA como nuestras modernas caba\u00f1as con aire acondicionado que tenemos para muchos de nuestros campamentos hoy. Nada como eso, ni siquiera cerca. Digamos que la palabra \"r\u00fastico\", bueno, \u00a1fue todo un cumplido! Puedo recordar ese campamento como si fuera ayer. No hab\u00eda aire acondicionado. \u00a1Hab\u00eda caba\u00f1as de pared de bloques de cemento, casas de ba\u00f1os a las que hab\u00eda que caminar una milla para llegar, ventanas de pantalla que no se cerraban incluso con la lluvia, agua tibia en el mejor de los casos y bichos espeluznantes en cada rinc\u00f3n y grieta posible! \u00a1Estaba muy lejos de mi acogedora cama en la seguridad de mi mam\u00e1 y mi pap\u00e1! Estaba tan incre\u00edblemente nost\u00e1lgico que apenas pod\u00eda funcionar sin llorar. En alg\u00fan lugar cerca del comienzo de la semana, recuerdo estar sentado en alg\u00fan lugar solo llorando, deseando desesperadamente volver a casa, pero luchando por quedarme y aprovecharlo al m\u00e1ximo. Pod\u00eda imaginar a mi mam\u00e1 y mi pap\u00e1 en casa, y c\u00f3mo se sentir\u00eda abrazarlos y dormir en mi cama con todos mis peluches rode\u00e1ndome. Mientras estaba sentado all\u00ed llorando, uno de los empleados del campamento llamado Byron Jones se dirigi\u00f3 hacia m\u00ed. Se arrodill\u00f3 en silencio y me pregunt\u00f3 qu\u00e9 estaba mal. Con mi voz chillona y llorosa de 7 a\u00f1os, le dije lo mucho que extra\u00f1aba a mis padres y que solo quer\u00eda irme a casa. Mientras derramaba mi coraz\u00f3n, \u00e9l me escuch\u00f3 gentilmente. No hizo caso a mis l\u00e1grimas ni a c\u00f3mo me sent\u00eda. Era importante para \u00e9l y<\/em> yo lo era para \u00e9l. Luego me dijo que sab\u00eda algo que pens\u00f3 que me har\u00eda sentir mejor, que volver\u00eda en un minuto. Poco sab\u00eda, volver\u00eda minutos despu\u00e9s con una lata helada de Coca-Cola. S\u00ed, no creo que alguna vez haya probado una Coca-Cola mejor que ese d\u00eda. Mientras disfrutamos de nuestras bebidas heladas, nos sentamos en un par de viejos tocones de \u00e1rboles y conversamos. Me asegur\u00f3 que era mi nuevo amigo y que si lo necesitaba, \u00e9l estar\u00eda all\u00ed. \u00a1Me dijo que iba a tener la mejor semana en el campamento y que no me lo querr\u00eda perder por nada! No estoy seguro de cu\u00e1nto tiempo hablamos ese d\u00eda o incluso de todo lo que hablamos exactamente, pero puedo decir con certeza que mi semana cambi\u00f3 para siempre. Creo que fui cambiado para siempre. Pas\u00e9 esa semana de campamento y fui a varios campamentos despu\u00e9s de ese verano. Pero nunca me olvid\u00e9 de Byron o de nuestra charla, o esa lata de Coca-Cola. S\u00e9 que no hab\u00eda nada especial en esa lata de Coca-Cola, pero me hizo sentir como si fuera la persona m\u00e1s importante del mundo ese d\u00eda. Cuando era ni\u00f1o, eso significaba el mundo para m\u00ed. Podr\u00eda haber estado haciendo cualquier otra cosa en ese momento, pero decidi\u00f3 hablar conmigo y preocuparse por m\u00ed. Entonces no pude articularlo, pero casi 40 a\u00f1os despu\u00e9s, todav\u00eda no lo he olvidado. El hecho de que se tom\u00f3 10 minutos de su horario de campamento loco, agitado y agotador, y se tom\u00f3 el tiempo para consolar a una ni\u00f1a nost\u00e1lgica, no fue poca cosa, especialmente para mi coraz\u00f3n de 7 a\u00f1os. He escuchado decir antes, que la gente puede olvidar lo que dices o lo que haces, pero nunca olvidar\u00e1n c\u00f3mo los hiciste sentir. A veces estamos tan ocupados yendo y haciendo que nos olvidamos del por qu\u00e9. \u00bfPorque hacemos lo que hacemos? \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 incluso tenemos campamentos juveniles? \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 estamos en el ministerio? En las Escrituras, Jes\u00fas a menudo habla de los ni\u00f1os y su importancia. Dar forma a sus corazones es una de las cosas m\u00e1s importantes que podemos hacer. Los ni\u00f1os a menudo solo necesitan que alguien los escuche. Darse cuenta de que lo que sienten o dicen es importante, que son importantes. Los ni\u00f1os nunca olvidan la amabilidad que les mostramos o las veces que los escuchamos y tratamos de explicar lo que sucedi\u00f3 en la escuela, en el patio de recreo, en el laboratorio de computaci\u00f3n o en el recreo. S\u00e9 que a veces se necesita una medida extra de gracia y paciencia para escuchar, especialmente cuando estamos cansados. Cuando estamos exhaustos de todas las formas posibles, conocido por el hombre porque hemos trabajado todo el d\u00eda, muy duro, y nadie se ha tomado el tiempo de escucharnos: cuando la ropa est\u00e1 amontonada ocho cargas en el sof\u00e1, cuando el los platos est\u00e1n cubiertos de costras y el hedor te golpea cuando te acercas al fregadero, y cuando los pisos no se han fregado, qui\u00e9n sabe cu\u00e1ndo y anhelamos 10 minutos sin interrupci\u00f3n. Pero Dios nos llama a amar a los ni\u00f1os y a moldear sus corazones despu\u00e9s de \u00c9l: para ense\u00f1arles Sus caminos, para ense\u00f1arles Su Palabra, para ense\u00f1arles a perdonar al ni\u00f1o en la escuela que es malo con ellos incluso cuando no dijeron que lo lamentaban. , amar a las personas que no los aman, amar a Dios m\u00e1s que a nadie ni a nada, y guiarlos mientras navegan por este camino, llamamos vida. Y no es f\u00e1cil, ya sea padre, maestro, pastor, trabajador del ministerio de ni\u00f1os ... sin importar su papel. Si tocas la vida de un ni\u00f1o, has tocado el coraz\u00f3n de Dios. No tome su papel a la ligera. Recuerda que nunca olvidar\u00e1n el tiempo que pasas con ellos. La sonrisa que les das. El amor y el perd\u00f3n que modelas a diario. Las cosas simples como atarles los zapatos o ayudarlos a levantarse despu\u00e9s de que se hayan ca\u00eddo. Todo es importante porque son importantes. Permita que Dios le d\u00e9 su coraz\u00f3n por ellos y una medida adicional de amor, gracia y paciencia. T\u00f3mese el tiempo para dar forma a su coraz\u00f3n para que se parezca a \u00c9l. Nunca lo olvidar\u00e1n. Hoy, casi 40 a\u00f1os despu\u00e9s, trabajo en la Conferencia Cornerstone ayudando a planificar y organizar los campamentos juveniles que impactaron y cambiaron mi vida. Tambi\u00e9n estoy en el ministerio de tiempo completo con mi esposo y nuestros cinco hijos. Cinco ni\u00f1os hermosos, amorosos y saludables que a veces pueden poner a prueba mi paciencia y caminar con Dios m\u00e1s de lo que nadie podr\u00eda hacerlo, pero que amo m\u00e1s que la vida misma y lloro ante la idea de que vayan a la universidad y se vayan de casa. Pero mientras pienso y rezo por su futuro, rezo por que personas como Byron Jones entren en sus vidas. Gente que los amar\u00e1 y se tomar\u00e1 tiempo con ellos cuando su padre y yo no estemos all\u00ed. S\u00e9 sin lugar a dudas que no ser\u00eda quien soy, o incluso d\u00f3nde estoy hoy, si no hubiera sido por mi familia, y personas como Byron Jones en todo el camino que se preocuparon por m\u00ed. Quien me amaba y se tomaba el tiempo conmigo cuando era ni\u00f1o y rezaba por m\u00ed y molde\u00f3 mi coraz\u00f3n. Dios es un buen dios. Un Dios fiel Os animo hoy a tomarse el tiempo para mostrar a los ni\u00f1os que te rodean qui\u00e9n es Dios. Est\u00e1n escuchando, esperando que compartamos la verdad. Lo anhelan. Ellos lo necesitan Sus corazones se formar\u00e1n de una forma u otra ... aseg\u00farese de que nos hayamos tomado el tiempo para darle forma a su imagen.","author_name":"Leah McCullar","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/01\/KM-Q4.3-Article-Graphic.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4T9u2-1C4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}