Kids' Greeters

last friday, for the second service in the church, mano and i volunteered to be the kids' greeters. being the first session after the 2-month summer break, there was influx of the kids, some pre-registered, some just registering. we were given a 5-minute briefing on how their process works. it was simple, but i can't believe i was anxious. they were only kids, but would you believe that there are times that my knees shake more with the comments from kids? why? because it is straight from the heart-- they say it as they please! no hitting around the bush, no window-dressing. case in point: mano was assisting a 'regular' attender, and he told me mano, "i have my bible". mano said "ok", and thought to herself 'so?' and before she can say another word, the kid just said impatiently, "ok, later" and turned his back. haha! later we learned, that when the kids bring their bible, we have to put a star somewhere!

then it was my encounter. the door opened and i saw this boy coming in. as the greeter, i smiled and enthusiastically said "good morning! are you registed?" and then he said with a poker-face, "i am just going to use the bathroom". "oh.... ok". after a few minutes, he came out, and said, still not smiling "thank you". mano and i just looked at each other, and laughed! we learned that this small boy, maybe about 5-6 years old, does not attend the children's session, but the adult session!

we spoke with the head teacher, and we said, "we'd like to be greeters again!" ;)


i remember the toddlers i used to teach in our sunday school in my manila church...

"teacher, why is your teeth moving when you talk?" said to a teacher wearing false teeth.

"teacher, dad fell asleep when we were having devotion last week" o-ow!

"teacher, i don't like to color" when told to do the activity for the day.

"teacher, why are you late?" ooppps, no excuses!

"teacher, i missed you last week" ohhhhhhh

"teacher, why did david kill goliath? it is ok to kill?" whew!

"teacher, i told my classmate do not pray to idols" the courage!

and so on and so forth....

kids... oh, i love them!... i love their candidness! i love the mix of innocence and simple logic. i love the age when you do not have to second guess their intentions, because what you see is what you get, and what you hear is what is real.

and best of all, when they say "i love you teacher!" with a kiss and a hug, it just really vanishes all the weariness away....