Friday, March 25, 2016

Children And Ducks And Jesus


My education world has changed in the last five or six years. With the addition of the Internet in each classroom and the availability of a ceiling projector and a professional grade screen, the attention of my students is usually focused up front. Our notes and memory verses are on the screen and sometimes, our quizzes are as well. Every day I show a video clip in all my five periods and yesterday was no exception. Well, actually it was. In my Gospels classes, I showed two. The second was an updated version of The Prodigal Son that was pretty intense. But I started my classes with a short two minute clip from CBS On The Road With Steve Hartmann. I like to begin on a happy note and this one definitely did the trick. It was about the cutest little girl named Kylie who is five and lives in Maine. That's not the essence of the story, though. You see, Kylie has a pet duck named Snowflake who thinks Kylie is his mother through some weird kind of imprinting. But that's not the main point, either. You see, Kylie truly believes she is Snowflake's mother. (Lest you scoff, you might recall that a five year old at my school thinks I'm J.J. Watt!) Do yourself a favor; take a couple of minutes and watch this clip. I guarantee you'll finish with a smile on your face.

My students were charmed yesterday as they took in this story. What they saw was the purity and innocence and lack of guile from one of God's creatures who loves another of God's creations as her very own and it seemed appropriate we witnessed it right before Easter. On the Sunday before the crucifixion, the religious leaders were up in arms over children in the temple who were shouting in the presence of Jesus, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" The Christ responded by quoting Psalm 8:2 to His critics:
'From the lips of children and infants, you, Lord, have called forth Your praise.'
What a testimony to the holiness of little girls and boys! Our Father is glorified by their words and testimony! It's a special time year as the Christian world remembers the death and burial and especially the resurrection of Jesus. You see children dressed to the nines and excitedly searching for candy hidden in colorful plastic eggs. But let's not forget the role of little ones in the story of redemption. Jesus began just as each of us did, born of a woman. And as He matured into manhood, He spent a year as a five year old, just like Kylie, just like all of us. Praise God He grew and took the sins of the world on the cross and came out of the grave. And Hallelujah that His story didn't end at age five.


To watch the sweet story of Kylie and Snowflake, click or copy/paste the link below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbWz5H7MTnA

Applicable quote of the day:
"A child is a beam of sunlight from the Infinite and Eternal, with possibilities of virtue and vice, but as yet unstained."
 Lyman Abbott


God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com

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