Back When the World Was BIG!
When I was young I would visit my Grandmother and stay with her for days on end. I loved being there because she made me pound cake with chocolate syrup for breakfast. (Yeah, I have always been into health food.)
She played the role of grandparent very well in that I got away with a lot of things my parents forbid. Her one cardinal rule was that I was to never cross the "big road," meaning the one that was paved rather than the dirt one. She had a large yard but it was never quite big enough to satisfy my curiosity.
The other side of the "paved" road represented the "big world" and it just kept beckoning for me to come and explore it. I knew that the country "drug store" (we now call them pharmacies) and the "filling station" (am I dating myself yet?) were over there somewhere. I could only imagine all the other wonders of the world that awaited me so I swallowed hard, looked both ways and pedaled my little red bike into history.
To say that our students live in a different world today would be a gross understatement. Children are connected with every corner of the world via the television or internet. Teens converse with students in other cities, states, countries and continents using social media, Skype and cell phones. The "big" world isn't so big any longer. Many adults still think of state lines or country borders as walls but students see them as grids on a map.
What a great time to introduce children and teens to world missions! Like previous generations they have a sense of adventure and their reach exceeds their grasp. They are already looking across the "big road" and anticipating their adventure. Maybe we as leaders are the ones who need to swallow hard, look both ways, then grab a student's hand and move out to reach the world with the good news of Christ.
