Why grow up when you can be a kid??

I remember when I was younger. Every week, one of the things that I always looked forward to was Saturday morning cartoons. Mind you, this is back in the day (man I sound old) when we had quality stuff on, none of the stuff that’s on tv now, that’s only on just because they want to make some sort of toy/game and have a cartoon to cause kids to scream at their parents to buy. Anyway, I would remember waking up early, getting some breakfast, and watching tv. I found great joy in those hours and as Monday and school came closer, I wished that the following Saturday would come sooner.

Looking back now, I wonder where that excitement has gone? Obviously, the Saturday morning cartoons aren’t as good anymore. I can’t watch these cartoons because I have worship practice on Saturday’s and also I’m at the age where I’m not supposed to watch these things (although if I still did watch them, I wouldn’t admit it to you guys…). However, it’s not the excitement of cartoons that I’m looking for. The thing I wonder about is the desire, that yearning, that joy and passion something to come around again. The happiness of knowing that just around the corner, regardless of how horrible the week has been, there is some light. When I think about those feelings, I wonder, do we ever feel that way when we think about church?

Every week, Sunday comes around and many of us go to church, go to a bible study or discipleship group. After that, Sunday service and then after that, we either fellowship, hang out, or go home. How many of us can say we look forward to church like we used to look forward to Saturday morning cartoons (or looking forward to a break for those deprived children who always had some sort of lessons, prep class, etc)? Where has all the passion and joy gone? Have we really allowed church to become some sort of chore or task that we’re expected to do? Have we become so jaded by things that church is only a place for us to meet people and hang out?

This is why I feel like I want to be a kid again. Not because I want to be a Toy’s R Us kid or anything like that, but I miss the innocence of being a child. As older people, we’ve learned so many things, we’ve become so jaded with how people act, become so much more concerned with the matters of the world, that we’ve lost sight of the simple joys of life, we’ve lost sight of the things that really matter. Just imagine if we had the joy of Saturday morning cartoons and applied that to our church lives. How great of a church would we be in? I think it would be AWESOME. The fact that everyone in church was excited to be there, forgot about everything else but God and the church, and wanted to spend as much time there as possible. Also, just think about how contagious the joy of a child is. When we look at Courtney and see her smile, I’m pretty sure most of us can’t help but smile. Imagine what that would be like if our church lives were like that. When one of us was happy or excited about something and the rest of us shared in that joy. How great would things be? I think this is why Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 18 that becoming like little children was the way to go to heaven. As children we’re not concerned with matters of this world, we aren’t about clashing egos and trying to outdo one another. As kids, most of us just sought the joy that certain things brought us. Toys, books, tv shows, friends, etc. We filled our lives with finding joy from these things. Just imagine if we could live our lives, seeking our joy like that from God? From church? How different would our lives be?

My hope is that we really can start to find joy in God, in our brothers and sisters, and in our church. That when the weekend rolls around, we look forward and are excited about church because we find joy in Him and share it with our brothers and sisters. So when we spend most of our lives trying to be adults, when the world tells us to grow up, I want to encourage you all then when we come to church, to just be a kid.

-Henry Huang