I have been working on some Sunday nights with 3 - 5 year olds at Seacoast. I love it. There're no special needs kids, but it's fantastic to have this opportunity.
However, there's been a problem. One of the songs we sing goes: "I'm going to take God's promieses and hide 'em in my heart, hide 'em in my heart, hide 'em in my heart. I'm going to take God's promieses and hide 'em in my heart, hide 'em in my heart, hide 'em in my heaaaarrrrt." And of course there are accompanying motions.
There are other lyrics but I can't remember them. Now I have that one line and the hand motions running on the hamster wheel of my mind. Fortunaetnly it seems to override the squeeky sound that I normally hear.
e hënë, 25 gusht 2008
Burn out?
For about 4 - 6 weeks straight now, I've either been working w/ the kids on my regular weeks, taking over for someone that could not work, and one week I was out of town.
I'm getting a little burned out, but then I realize that every time I work with these wonderful kids, God is just so awesome.
I may need to take some time off soon, but I love these kids.
I'm getting a little burned out, but then I realize that every time I work with these wonderful kids, God is just so awesome.
I may need to take some time off soon, but I love these kids.
e premte, 8 gusht 2008
Worship
I do NOT update this blog often enough.
My church holds a special service on the first Wednesday of each month. This past Wednesday some cool things happened:
1. Our children's pastor, Scott, was ordained. Scott is a very special man. Our church has over 1000 members at our main campus, and I think that Scott has most of the kids names memorized. I don't even know my own name at times. Thank God for Scott's commitment to kids.
Another cool thing about Scott is that, as the name and pronouns imply, he's a man. Churches like the one I grew up in did not encourage men [nor did they outright discourage] to work with kids. It was almost always some little old ladies.
2. We had some new twists on the worship experience:
A. One of the children's departments came out and sang two songs with us. The lyrics to one of these songs goes: "I am free to run...I am free to dance...I am free to live for you...". Those kids ran, danced, jumped and wiggled around for God. Which brings me to...
B. We are to worship God WITH EVERYTHING. The Bible says that: "David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might..." Look up EPHOD here
C. What we did differently was that we were encouraged to worship God differently than our "normal method". In other words if you were a quiet worshiper, you were encouraged to be loud, if you're loud then you were encouraged to be quiet and reflective. If you raise your hands, fine, add some dancing to it. You get the picture.
I tried to add jumping to mine as an outward expression to God and my great joy at being one of His. However, when a 5'5", 180 lb, uncoordinated man jumps up and down it is NOT pretty. I kept running out of breath and almost ran into someone while I was jumping in place.
I am posting this here because I need to point out something. The Won by One ministry [or as I call them, The Purple Plastic Piano People] are special needs kids. They often have their own way of expressing love. Some are very open because they do not have those internal mechanisms that tell them it's not always appropriate to hug and kiss. Some are very open to music and not any other stimuli. Others do not like music because it's too loud etc. but, they can express love just by being sweet or by building something out of Legos or wood blocks.
Take whatever God has given you and use it to express your love for Him.
My church holds a special service on the first Wednesday of each month. This past Wednesday some cool things happened:
1. Our children's pastor, Scott, was ordained. Scott is a very special man. Our church has over 1000 members at our main campus, and I think that Scott has most of the kids names memorized. I don't even know my own name at times. Thank God for Scott's commitment to kids.
Another cool thing about Scott is that, as the name and pronouns imply, he's a man. Churches like the one I grew up in did not encourage men [nor did they outright discourage] to work with kids. It was almost always some little old ladies.
2. We had some new twists on the worship experience:
A. One of the children's departments came out and sang two songs with us. The lyrics to one of these songs goes: "I am free to run...I am free to dance...I am free to live for you...". Those kids ran, danced, jumped and wiggled around for God. Which brings me to...
B. We are to worship God WITH EVERYTHING. The Bible says that: "David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might..." Look up EPHOD here
C. What we did differently was that we were encouraged to worship God differently than our "normal method". In other words if you were a quiet worshiper, you were encouraged to be loud, if you're loud then you were encouraged to be quiet and reflective. If you raise your hands, fine, add some dancing to it. You get the picture.
I tried to add jumping to mine as an outward expression to God and my great joy at being one of His. However, when a 5'5", 180 lb, uncoordinated man jumps up and down it is NOT pretty. I kept running out of breath and almost ran into someone while I was jumping in place.
I am posting this here because I need to point out something. The Won by One ministry [or as I call them, The Purple Plastic Piano People] are special needs kids. They often have their own way of expressing love. Some are very open because they do not have those internal mechanisms that tell them it's not always appropriate to hug and kiss. Some are very open to music and not any other stimuli. Others do not like music because it's too loud etc. but, they can express love just by being sweet or by building something out of Legos or wood blocks.
Take whatever God has given you and use it to express your love for Him.
Abonohu te:
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