“Sylvia, don’t you want to play the water game with the other kids?” I asked the little girl who was standing off to the side at the beginning of our summer 5-Day Club.
“No,” she said flatly, looking at the ground.
“Well then, can I tell you a story?” I countered. Usually, my little Wordless Book keeps children captivated. “Heaven has a street of gold,” I explained, opening my Wordless Book to the shiny gold page. “God loves you so much, and He wants you to be able to live with Him there one day… “ She was interested and interacted, but before long stated, “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” She jumped up and walked away, just out of reach of me, and kept watching the other children play games.
The club hostess came over to me. “Sylvia lives with her father. Her parents divorced quite a while ago, and her father just won custody over her after a particularly difficult battle. The courts pronounced her mother unfit… I don’t know the details, but it must have been awful. She doesn’t like to play with the other kids, and she can’t pay attention very long to anything.”
I continued watching Sylvia throughout the week. She hated participating in the activities with the other children and seemed content to watch what was going on from a “safe” distance.
One day while the other children worked on a craft, Sylvia sat at a different table, her back to the children, obviously disinterested. I sat down beside her. “Hi again,” I said, as she kicked at a nearby leaf. “Do you have any pets?”
The floodgates opened and Sylvia couldn’t stop telling me about the pets she used to have and what she wants to be when she grows up. After a while, I pulled out the little Wordless Book I had shown her a few days before. “Sylvia, would you like to continue looking through this book with me? What do you think this red page is about?”
“Jesus. He died for my sins. I believed in him, and I’m going to heaven one day.” She stated matter of factly.
“That’s great, Sylvia! And right now He loves you so much that no matter what you are going through, He is there for you. Sometimes our earthly parents aren’t around or aren’t able to show us, love. But if you have believed in Jesus, then God is your perfect Heavenly Father, and He will always be there to love you perfectly.”
We continued talking for a few minutes, and then Sylvia ran off to join the group for their next activity. By the end of the week, Sylvia still didn’t want to participate much, but she was definitely interested in the Bible lessons. The final day, at the end of club, she asked permission to go play on the nearby playground until her father arrived. As Sylvia climbed and jumped from bar to bar on the playground, she looked more unburdened than I had seen all week. Watching her climb and slide reminded me why summer ministry is so important: so that children like Sylvia can kick up their heels and act their age so that they can see God’s loving heart and His forgiveness so that they can experience a safe and fun environment.
