On the beach before lessons:
Jessie: Where's your frog?
Kid 1: He died. He went to froggie heaven.
Kelsie: Maybe you shouldn't have been throwing him so high in the air yesterday.
Kid 1: He's actually a grass frog. So I shouldn't have been putting him in the water at all.
Jessie: That'll do it.
Walking in to the water for lessons:
Kid 1: Do you know how the first animal was made?
Jessie: How?
Kid 1: Jesus.
Kid 2: Do you know that if you say "God" that something bad will happen to you?
Jessie: I don't think that's true. You can also say "God" in a good way.
Kid 3: That's why I don't say my prayers anymore. My grandmother told me that if you kick someone by mistake or something, that God will make your foot hurt when you grow up.
Jessie: God isn't like that, you know.
Kid 3: Yes he is. My grandmother said so, and I believe it.
Kid 1: Jesus was a good man. Because he died.
Kid 3: Jesus was a good man. Better than God.
Jessie: Some people believe that Jesus was God.
Kid 1: Jesus is waaaay better than God.
Kid 3: Yeah. He won't make your foot hurt.
Jessie: Ok, everyone, lets do 15 bobs.
All I could think about while the boys were talking was how I want to tell kids about what God is really like. I also wasn't sure what was appropriate to say to these guys about God and what wasn't during swimming lessons. That's something for after class, I think. If you talk about it at all. I think you'd need a relationship with the kids first.
I think I might need to work at a camp next summer.
2 comments:
You could always go to Peniel! ;) Just don't Lifeguard there... you know what happens to Peniel lifeguards... or at least, so the trend seems... ;)
Oooh, you could come with me to New Brunswick next year and work at Arrowhead Native Bible Centre (special camp for Native kids). The downside is that you don't get paid but it's great working there :D.
The frog story reminded me how some of the kids at camp would catch some toads that would be on the beach and one of the staff mentioned how when he was younger he would do some cruel things to frogs, the cruelest being playing baseball with the frog :(. Then he talked about how someone he knew was really cruel to frogs and would stick fire crackers inside the frog's mouth, light it and then let it jump away. I won't say what happened next as it's horribly obvious what happened after the frog made a few leaps and the fuse burned to the end :(.
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