Some Kinda Kingdom

I work with Junior High students.

(Reader insert sympathetic grimace here)

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No, I am not in search of community service hours I actually have a college degree and believe it or not am actually working on a Masters degree.
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But, yes I still work with Junior High students.
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Now for the record I also work with College and High School students and as a youth pastor I love my job - but Junior High work encompasses a host of things:

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I am becoming very skilled at Xbox.

I can't use words with many syllables.

I eat Pizza at least once a day.

I have learned to hold a conversation that consists entirely of me asking questions to which I already know the answer.

I have stains on every good dress shirt I own.

I give over 100 high fives daily.

I eat tylenol like its skittles.

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And for anyone reading this who has any youth ministry experience you know that there are those nights where you've mopped up the soda puddles, picked up every last pizza crust, dealt with every hurt feeling, and watched your well prepared lesson go in one ear and out the other and you sit on the counter after every one has gone home and all is quiet and you think aloud, "What's the point?"

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Then you recall...Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
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Really Jesus?

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The kingdom?
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Middle schoolers?

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I mean is the kingdom of heaven like a pediatricians waiting room - complete with a pastel wall mural, out-dated Fisher Price toys and Antibiotic infomericals flickering from the TV in the corner?
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We all know the answer to that - but what then is it really like?

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I think the words of Jesus in this case are not hinting at what the kingdom will have - but what it will lack.
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I think by telling us the heirs to the kingdom are children we are told that it is a kingdom that lacks pretense.

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Have you ever heard a child read a Bible verse? Believing without a doubt everything it says even if they mispronounce a word here and there.

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Have you ever heard a child sing Amazing Grace? Almost being able to see the smile that must illuminate the Son's face.
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Have you ever aimed to teach a child a Biblical principle only to discover that they understood it as well as you - they just used less fancy words and get this - actually lived it?

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Have you ever had a child call you on a Saturday night and say the words, "Can you pick me up for church tomorrow?" And they thought the line went dead due to your overjoyed and choked up silence.
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See when we become adults we all of a sudden don't believe the words in our Bibles as readily. We all of a sudden start skipping church because we don't have the right shirt clean. We all of a sudden forget about Amazing Grace and instead focus on the woman sitting behind us who sings off key or the guy in the choir who we saw over the weekend in line at the grocery store with a 12 pack- what does he think he's doing in church? We learn bigger words and get bigger muscles and get bigger boobs and drive bigger cars and yet hide behind these things while our faith and concern with thats really important grows smaller and smaller.

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We care so much about what others may think and not about what God knows.

(insert rolled eyes and "thats such a childish cliche" remark here - and you have proven my point).

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When you look at the faith of a child it's so...

simple...

unpretentious...

innocent...

Jesus-endorsed...

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There is a husky, glasses-wearing, clumsy, sweaty seventh grader in our church who lives for french fries swimming in ketchup and dodgeball. This gem of a kid has tackled me during the middle of a message, spilled more soda than anyone alive, and must be put in at least one headlock until he taps out and promises not to fart during prayer per night.
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And yet the other night as I drove him home there was one of those "Rudy!" "Rudy!" goosebump moments where the conversation steered from WWF and water ballons and instead came up on God. My friend had just gotten his first girlfriend (which in 7th grade consists mainly of water fountain dates and sweaty palms but when you're that age its earth shattering) and after a pause he told me,

"I know God has a plan..." (at which I did a small, discreet fist pump)

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and due to the overwhelming evidence of her 1) riding the same bus as him and 2) living one street over,
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"she must be the one he is going to marry..." (at which I almost drove off the road)

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Now as I avoided swerving off the road I gently told him that she could be the one but she also may not be and thats ok too because one way or another we can be sure that...
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God does have a plan

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and a kingdom
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and I just may find out one day that the kingdom is a lot less like my seminary classroom and a lot more like those times I'm with seventh graders.