On Sunday, August 25, 1996, I went to church at St. Leo's here in Omaha at 102 and Blondo Streets. It was the 9:00 AM service. Father Gillick (spelling?) was the priest. He is blind. He is from Creighton Prep High School in Omaha. He gives the neatest sermons and I was looking forward to what he had to say.
When it came time to read the words from the Old Testament reading they called the children of the congregation together and sent them out to another room. "God be with you there" the people in church say and the children reply "God be with you here". As the children were walking out the back door of church, God said to me "Go." (I have learned that when God says "Go" you go!) He said "Go and observe what is happening with these children". This was embarrassing for me. I had to walk over two people to get out of the pew. One had a cane to help them walk. So I said "Excuse me I have to go see something" and I went.
This was embarrassing! I'm 44 years old with grey hair. What was I doing? There were about 30 or 40 kids ages 3 to 8 maybe. I met one of the adults watching over the group named Tasha (spelling?). I told her I was a writer and gave her a copy of To Be A Success In 1996 and I was here to see what was going on. I told her that we have so much to learn from kids.
They had the kids sing a few songs. They read the same readings that the adults back in church were reading. They discussed the readings. They used sign language as they sang the songs. I don't know sign language, so I was learning with the kids. I sat down on the floor just like they did. These kids were awesome. How I wish that there would have been a film crew to capture those moments in that room. There are things that happened in that room that I will never forget my whole life.
They were discussing the Gospel which was about Jesus asking his disciples "Who do you say I am?" Peter says he is the "Messiah, the Son of the living God". Tasha was very good with the kids. (Angie was there also helping the kids to sing the songs. She was great also.) Tasha asked the kids "Where is Jesus?" One kid said he was in a car. Another said in his van. Another said in his/her house. (I think. I'm not sure.) Tasha said Jesus was within you. She said "Jesus was in you and you and you" looking and talking directly to a few specific kids near her. (Or something on those lines.) And she was going to go on.
There was a little girl in a pink dress on the north wall. She had her hand up, but few noticed this. I noticed this. I spoke up. I wanted to hear what this little girl (maybe 3 years old) had to say. So I interrupted Tasha and pointed to the girl and said "Someone over there has something to say". And Tasha asked her to say what she had to say. The little girl said "Jesus is in my heart". Cool! I started to cry. It blew me away. It was wonderful! The little girl's name was Megan. God bless her. She made my day.
Like I said "We have a lot to learn from kids". Check it out! They are precious gifts from God above.
Dan Boeckman's e-mail address:
dboeckm@csealumni.unl.edu
Last changed on August 28, 1996 at 2:48 AM CDT
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