A Tender Heart

This past week I had the opportunity to be camp pastor for 16 jr high students at Mission Meadows. One of the most tender moments I have ever seen occurred. I'm not sure words will do this justice. Of the 16 kids, one boy is a rascal ... probably ADHD. He's the center of attention. He is the shortest kid there by a lot ... maybe 4' 8" ... he's blond and handsome/cute. He's in that inbetween stage from being a cute little boy and becoming a handsome teenager. He's also half Jewish and doesn't really know a lot of about Christianity or Judaism. He says he understands that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and that Jews believe that but don't believe he is the son of God. How he got to Mission Meadows I don't know. On the last evening together around the camp fire, I spoke with the kids about doing great things for God and that God is not waiting for them to get older, smarter and richer before they can be ministers for Him. I asked the kids to dream for a moment ... if they could do anything for God, and money, age, etc. were not limitations, what would they do? Of course they answered with solving world hunger, world peace, world evangelization, saving the planet, etc. But this one short, Jewish boy, in a very serious & vulnerable moment says, "I don't know if like maybe he could do this for himself, but I would want to give God his son back some how because you know he died for us." The other kids were quick to point out that Jesus rose from the dead and were trying to capitalize on an opportunity to evangelize him. But I was just awestruck by this young boy, who didn't know the whole story, and his heart was so tender toward God that he wanted to relieve God's suffering from losing His son. He really wanted to do something for God with seemingly no ulterior motive. It was a beautiful tender hearted moment.