“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” -1 John 3:1 Wow, so upon starting this blog, I’m not even sure where to begin. I feel like since the beginning of the internship there have been so many different experiences, lessons learned, moments that have left me speechless and confused, and moments that have left me completely lost in laughter. This verse, however, seems to connect many of the different pathways of thought I’ve had over this past week.
I began thinking more about the ways that God responds to his children last week after talking with a close friend about the internship. I spent that time mostly listing off the obstacles I’d been encountering, how complicated the issues facing the urban poor really are and how daunting it is when you begin to come to grips with the different family situations many of the kids are facing. She patiently listened to all of my frustrations and when I stopped simply said, “well, God always takes care of his children.” This comment left me a little dissatisfied at first, and I almost dismissed it. My thoughts initially ranged from “she’s just oversimplifying everything” to “doesn’t she see, these children aren’t being taken care of!” But the more I’ve thought about that statement and about my friends strong faith that it is always true, the more my eyes have been opened to the incalculable ways that Christ really does care for and watch over his children.
Even though we’ve just begun the day camp, I’ve already seen the ways that Christ is taking care of the children through it and through the time we’ve been able to spend with them since school let out. I get to work with the lil tykes at the day camp (5-7 year olds) and though I could choose to dwell only on the ways some of them are obviously neglected or are facing extremely rough conditions at home, my eyes have also been opened to the ways that they are learning to positively interact with each other. They’re also learning more about the nature of Christ as interns and people in the community commit themselves to them and provide them with an environment that is secure and safe for them emotionally and physically. I’ve also begun to see the value in providing them with plenty of opportunities to just be kids! We went to a water park this past Friday and between all the slides, piggy back rides, and watching some of the kids overcome their fear of going under, one little girl kept running up to me again and again yelling with the biggest grin on her face , “Bethany, I’M HAVING SOO MUCH FUN!!” And after watching so many of the kids have an absolute blast this past weekend on the camping trip, whether they were catching frogs by the lake, canoeing into pretty choppy waters (a little too close to speed boats at times for comfort), playing knock-out, or trying to brave sleeping in a tent for the first time, I can’t help but think- God really does take care of His children.
