“Yes Lord, I am here!”
This week we got the joy of hosting a group of 2nd through 4th graders here at Hopetown. It was a week full of energy and excitement and depth. These kids were eager to give, quick to respond, and ready to hear God’s word.
We started off the week talking about our purpose. We learned about how King Josiah had such a purpose when he was only eight years old (2 Kings 22:1-2, 23:25). Everyone got to stand up and say, “I have purpose!” It was so neat to start off our week with a declaration of truth. Each camper got to hear from their buddies about what specific purpose was seen in them in just the few hours they had been at camp.
The next morning, we got to read the story of Samuel in the Jesus Storybook Bible. Samuel’s response to God’s calling was “Yes Lord I am here!” God calls each of our names in the same way- we just have to listen to Him! Then, each camper got a miniature backpack with their name on it. Inside the backpacks was a mini passport. The passport symbolizes how God calls our names and give us purpose to go anywhere because we are His!
Each backpack also included small heart-shaped rocks. We learned a lot about how God can take our hard hearts and give us new ones because he made us for something better than living with a heart of stone. Some examples of hard hearts we can have are:
Rigid Heart
Demanding Heart
Show Off Heart
Money Heart
Know It All Heart
Anxious Heart
Controlling Heart
Complaining Heart
Bored Heart
We read Ezekiel 36:26 and were reminded of how God gives us new hearts. Then we got to throw our old hard heart rocks into the lake and our buddies gave us new hearts. God does the same thing for each of us everyday, all the time!
This week, Melissa taught us that there are three things Jesus likes to hear:
Thank you.
I am glad you are my friend.
I love you.
We got to practice thanking God each day by sharing what we are thankful for with the group. We also got the opportunity to give beads to our friends to celebrate what kind of heart we have seen in them. The beads this week were:
Ready-to-Go Heart
Like Samuel in 1 Samuel 3
Big Heart
Like Josiah in 2 Kings 22:2-25
Giving Heart
Like the little boy that shared his lunch in John 6:8
Loving Heart
Like King David in 1 Samuel 16
Forgiving Heart
Like the servant girl in 2 Kings 5
Trusting Heart
Like the little children that came to Jesus in Matthew 19
Brave Heart
Like Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:6
It is one of our favorite ways to end the day and it could be such a fun practice to start with your family. We are so thankful for this kind, compassionate group of 2nd through 4th graders who taught us all about joy and child-like faith!
