Maureen Silveyra 9/23/2020

When I was a kid, my family travelled to South Dakota nearly every summer.  We would visit a lot of places to look for rocks, but one of our favorite places along the way was a campground that had a waterslide, called Beaver Lake Campground.  We loved it!  There was a store there and a room with video games, too.  It looked like something from a western movie.

I was probably about eight years old the summer that I got to save the day at Beaver Lake.  We were on the steps of the waterslide, waiting for another turn to go down, when suddenly, the water stopped on the water slide.  There was a long line of people behind us, too.  Pretty soon, everyone was told to go back to our campsites, the slide was officially closed for repair.  On a hot holiday, this was a big disappointment!

My sister and I went to shower the chlorine water off of us and as we returned to our campsite, mom told us that our dad went to help the owner of the campground get the waterslide problem solved.  I think I have always loved being where the action was.  I went to find Dad and see what he was up to.  I found him alongside the owner of the campground working by a wall near the slide with some PVC pipes taken apart for the repair.  They were trying to dislodge something from the pipes but were having trouble getting their hands to fit inside.  Dad turned to me and asked if I could help reach into the pipe to get out the towel that had been sucked into the pump and was keeping the water from flowing.  I did reach in, with my eight-year-old hand, and grab the towel and I pulled it out.  The waterslide was ready to roll again!

The owner was so happy about it that he gave my sister and me free T-shirts from the campground as a thank you for saving the day.  I didn’t really do too much to earn that—I was just helping my dad, but I got to be a hero because I was hanging out with my daddy.

I think that is how we are when we hang out with our Heavenly Daddy, too.

Luke 10:1-24 tells us the story of how Jesus sent out 72 of his followers to represent the kingdom of God and to heal the sick and let them know the kingdom of heaven was near.  They did that, and came back full of joy at what God did through them, saying that even the demons submitted to them!  In reality, it was God working with them Who had the power to heal and set people free; they were simply working with Him to do His work.  Jesus rebuked them and said not to be excited that demons listened to them, but that God loved them and they would be in heaven with Him in the end.

Luke 10:21 shows us more into what Jesus was thinking.  The Passion Translation says it this way, “Then Jesus, overflowing with the Holy Spirit’s anointing of joy exclaimed, ‘Father, thank you, for you are Lord Supreme over heaven and earth!  You have hidden the great revelation of this authority from those who are proud, those wise in their own eyes, and you have shared it with those who have humbled themselves.  Yes, Father.  This is what pleases your heart and the very way you’ve chosen to extend your kingdom: to give to those who become like trusting children’.”

He loves our child-like trust of Him. At the end of the day, no matter what we do for the Lord, it is His wisdom and power that accomplished it, he simply invited us to be heroes on His behalf, and our joy should come from the fellowship of working and being with Him, not from getting the T-shirt.