I Grew up Around Indiana, You Grew up Around Galilee

On my last Sunday in Leo, one of the boys grabbed Sarah and I and asked if he could sing us the song he'd made up about the summer. This kid's a piece of work--last summer, in the middle of a basketball game, he grabbed my arm and slung me off the court, not in malice, but like an ape or something; he's physical. very physical. borderline hurting-you-physical. but it turns out, since then, not only has he stopped slinging girls or squeezing their hands until they turn blue, he's developed this, uh...quirk. He sings songs from musicals, especially movie musicals. He writes some of his own stuff too. He even made up a song about how he hates Chinese food--not the people, just the food. Something about catching a 'contagious infection' or some similar redundancy. He stands there with a guitar, open strings, and just strums away, singing in what could be classified as all shades of the same note. Picturing it? Anyway, as church cleared out, he takes us outside where we can hear better and sits us down on the bench near the circle drive. Then he sings this version of "Looking Back on an Old Life"...or something like that... only his version was "Looking back on the Best Summer of My Life." My favorite part was when he sang, "I am trying to change my life. Thanks for helping me change my life." Seriously this kid, he's got me. Hook, Line, and Sinker. Even if he was trying to make me cry. This is the same kid that sings "This World is Not my Home" as he does Saturday Cleaning. What a guy.

I got to love 16 kids this summer. I got to race them to a dropped frisbee and shove them over when they beat me to it. Sometimes I got to cook their lunch, sometimes they cooked mine. A few times I got to whisper in their ears, most of the time, I got to listen.

We talked about God. We told stories about the Saints of old, stories about their faith. They say stories like that make a boy grow bold, stories like that make a man walk straight...

I got to give hugs, cry tears, and pray prayers. What a privelege, to be smackdab in the middle of God's love to these kids. and God's love to me. so much to me.

Oh, and I taught them how to play Amazing Grace on the piano. But they're the ones who taught me how to love the song. (That song and "In the Garden," which little K. would give off every week in church WITHOUT fail)

Mark 10:14-16

..."Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not recieve the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.