That's right. Jesus still loves all the children of the world!

Here we are. It’s Thursday, August 20, 2009 and I am sharing some today about a ministry that is very dear to my heart. This past Tuesday evening we had our annual planning meeting for our upcoming inner city Bible club program called Crosstrainers. This is the 14th year for this program and we had a total of 75 different children attend last term with an average of 30 each week. This is my 12th year to be involved and I am looking forward to working with these little ones in our efforts to share the truth of the Gospel with them, to see them come to know Jesus as their Savior, and then to help them grow in their faith. This is always our goal each year. This year we will have four leaders who actually grew up in this program. What a blessing to see how God works in the lives of those who respond to Him! I am the designated cheerleader and special song guy. I am working on a new theme, verse, and song for this coming session. I know, you are probably stumbling over the idea of me being a cheerleader, and you would be pretty much on target because that’s more or less how I do it, I stumble through it! Brother Kim opened our meeting with that famous verse where Jesus lovingly reprimanded His followers in telling them not to hold back the little ones but to allow the children to come to Him, for such is the Kingdom of God. (Matthew 19:14)

They asked me if we were going to have a new song this year and I told them I was working on one but couldn’t be sure if it wasn’t one I had done before. When you get older you learn how the verse that says His blessings are new every morning works. (Lamentations 3:23) This year’s song may be a rerun because I can’t remember all of them I have done over the years and even if it is similar, most if not all the children wouldn’t have ever heard it anyway. I do know that is not what that verse really means. It has to do with our Great God’s vast array of blessings to the extent that we never exhaust the finding of new ones to thank Him for and give praise to His Name. This failing memory thing also is a benefit when it comes to watching old TV programs. Even though you may have seen them many times in the past you can’t be sure of all the details so it’s still entertaining, and, given the junk that’s being run 24x7, any of the older programs are better, or at least that is the case as best I can recollect.

Bottom line, we are praying that God will send many new children our way this year. We are praying that He will use us to be His hands in touching their lives for time and eternity. While these children are very needy in almost every way that it can be described, they, like us all, need to come to terms with where they will spend eternity. I have written before about the culture that surrounds their existence each day and how they often come with almost a sigh of relief in being able to escape that world for ninety minutes where people love and care for them. The planning meeting was a great time of reunion for our team. Those that labor in this ministry all have many other things on their schedule but I thank God for each one who comes and cares. Now I ask that you, my blog readers, take a moment to ask God’s blessings on the upcoming season. We do pray that He will receive all honor and praise as we seek to pursue this work. Amen. ……More later.