Jesus Skateboards?

Throughout my college years from sophomore to senior year, I would volunteer in our Kid’s Church every Sunday. (Equivalent to Sunday School)

Honestly, some days I looked forward to this, and other days I wished I could just be upstairs in church service with everybody else.

I am still working on having a better servant’s heart.

But in all my time of teaching this class there is one Sunday, that I carry with me and think back on often.

At that time our church was just 2 years old and was pretty small. I only had about 5-8 kids in my class, so I knew each one of them pretty well and I knew their families.

One Sunday after I taught the lesson, I told the kids to draw a picture of what it would be like if Jesus came to spend a day with them.

One child drew a picture of Jesus feeding the poor with him.

One child drew a picture of Jesus and her picking up trash.

And then one child drew a picture of himself on a skateboard, and Jesus was right there skateboarding with him.

When I first saw his picture I was a bit confused, seeing two people riding skateboards I figured he had dismissed the assignment and just decided to draw what he wanted.

When I asked him what the picture was he said: “Oh this is me and Jesus skateboarding together, because I think that he loves me so much he would want to hang out with me for the day and see what I like to do for fun”

And right there I was taught something by one of my kids.

No matter how long I spent preparing for what I was going to teach that Sunday, I was taught.

How many times do I forget that God is right here with me when I go through my day?

He has given me a passion in life, and whether that is teaching, working on computers, or simply skateboarding, he has give me this passion and wants me to live my life for Him, serving Him through my passion.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I think the pictures of Jesus picking up trash, feeding the poor, etc were great, but so many times that is our ONLY picture of who He is.

So many times we limit Him to these things that the world sees as ‘good things’.

We often forget who He really is, that He wants to live our life with us. Our everyday, ordinary, routine, day to day tasks.

He wants us to include Him.

And that small child reminded me of this that Sunday.

So this Easter season, if you have no yet given Him a chance to join you in your everyday tasks, I encourage you to give Him a chance.

He will not disappoint you.

We encounter God in the ordinariness of life, not in search for spiritual highs and extraordinary mystical experiences but in our simple presence in life ~ Brennan Manning