Oh, How I Love Jesus!

When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.”

Mark 10:14

When I was about ten, an older cousin, her four-year-old daughter, and I were riding a ski lift at an amusement park. As our feet swung gently under the rocking lift, my cousin pointed out various places we could see, waved at people below, and reveled in the cooler breeze from that height.

Suddenly we were aware of faint singing around us and traced it to the small wonder sitting between us. Her little hands were tightly gripping the bar, her shoulders were hunched, and she stared straight ahead as she breathlessly sang to herself, “Oh, . . . how . . . I . . . love . . . Je . . . sus! Oh, . . . how . . .”

She continued to sing the rest of the ride and would not talk to us until we were on the ground. Then she explained with a four-year-old vocabulary and a mature faith that she was really scared up there, but she knew that Jesus was a source of strength and comfort. Her singing was affirmation that she loved and trusted that source.

The rest of the story is that while my cousin thoroughly delighted in the aerial experience, I was actually almost as afraid as her daughter. She concentrated on Jesus, but I concentrated on keeping my shoes on my feet as I silently, desperately, hoped the cable held us up.

The lesson of whom to trust was not lost on me—even a few decades later. Oh, how I love Jesus!

—Stephanie Terry

Father God, thank you for the examples of children. Help me to be your little child, one who belongs to your Kingdom. And thank you for your saving grace through Jesus. In his name, amen.

From the book