Little Jimmy

Bill returns home from Wednesday night church service, goes inside and gets his 6yr old pomeranian Dasiy. They stroll down the block taking in the smell of fresh cut grass and roses blooming in Mrs. Roger's flower garden. The neighborhood is quiet, living room windows are filled with families winding down for the evening. Moms and Dads are busy changing kids into pajamas and helping them brush their teeth. Soon the kids will be asleep and mom and dad will enjoy a cup of freshly brewed coffee while they watch the latest TV program. Bill returns home, gives Dasiy her chew toy and flops down on the couch. Across town 7 yr old Jimmy is being dropped off by the church van from the same church Bill had just left. But Jimmy is not walking into a neighborhood where the smell is of fresh cut grass, in fact in this neighborhood there is no grass only dirt yards and instead of roses, beer bottles and cigerates fill the flower boxes. The quiet night is broken by cursing and foul language, little Jimmy is made fun of by his two older brothers as he carries his drawing inside the mill house he calls home. Instead of a warm supper and a bath he meets a drunken father who barks out the order for Jimmy to clean the kitchen and go to bed. There is no one to help brush his teeth, no one to say goodnight and instead of pajamas little Jimmy will sleep in the same clothes he wore to school. But Jimmy has a smile in his little heart because just once a week for 1 1/2 hours Jimmy is at church where he is treated like a 7yr old boy, he is loved on, cared for and taught about the God that loves him. Jimmy is not the best child in church and he is loud and disruptive on the church van, but he is loved on anyway. When the other kids lay down in a quiet warm bed the thought of church is far from their minds, but when Jimmy lays down on a matress in the floor above the noise ringing through the house he smiles in his heart thinking back on church this Wednesday night.


It is clear that Christ loves and commands us to love children. This is easy to say but not always easy to do. As I drove the church van tonight and droped off 23 little Jimmys, the thought came into my mind. "We can show them the love of Christ now or wait till they are behind bars and show them then." The church van ministry is one of the most important ministries in the church, to take this ministry lightly is to take the command of Jesus lightly. "Let the little children come to me."