Our Children, The Church, and Seven Year Old Pilots

Our church’s Bicentennial Celebration (the First Baptist Church of Hamilton, NY) has had a wonderful beginning. After our morning service a couple of Sunday’s ago, the Hamilton Fire Department hung our Bicentennial Banner on the front of our building. (When they didn’t show up quite on time we thought about testing our new fire alarm but thought better of the idea).

The children’s pageant, If the Walls Could Talk, was fantastic. Many thanks to our Sunday School Teachers for putting together this production, particular thanks to Laurie Murphy who wrote it.

I think it particularly important that our children began our Bicentennial Celebration. The fact that it was our children presenting it got us thinking not just about our church’s past but our church’s future. Incidentally, the children that took part in the play are probably not our church’s future. Most of them will probably be living in other parts of the country when they are adults. Most of the children who are our church’s future are being raised in other churches in other places. But our children are the future of the Church wherever it exists.

I was struck by the cartoon in the paper last week that depicted little Jessica Dubroff taking off in her plane just before it crashed. The sky was dark and streaked with rain and lightning bolts.

A voice from the control tower said, "Cheyenne Tower. Cessna, you’re cleared for takeoff."

In the plane, Jessica says: "Gosh, Daddy, should I really be taking off in weather like this?"

Her father answers, "I would never try to influence your decision honey—you’re seven years old."

Of course, the point is that the duty of a parent is to influence the decisions of their children when they are seven years old. I am thankful for our parents who are influencing their children to get to know the God who created and redeemed them.

1996 C. David Hess