Led by a Child

"The wolf will live with the Lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them" (Isaiah 11:6).

This morning in Haiti we attended a Haitian church. Everyone got dressed in their Sunday best and waited to make the half-mile walk to the church. Mommy's foot was injured so her and Poppy rode the four-wheeler to church. Poppy told us we could go ahead and leave, they would drive separately.

Uh, excuse me? You want us to take off - walking through the streets of a third world village, having no idea where we are going or how to get there?

OK, that's not what I said. 

Instead I suppressed my panic and asked Poppy how to get to church. His answer, "Oh, it's OK. Just walk with the kids. They can take you." That's how I came to find myself holding the hand of a preschooler, walking the streets of a third world town, being led by a group of young children.

Before the day was over, we had attended two different church services - a large congregation in town led by Pastor Francoise and a small congregation on the edge of town led by Pastor Clebert. In my lifetime, I've now attended services in German, Hebrew, and Creole. Each time, I could only understand very few words. Each time, though, I sensed the presence of God's Spirit. In every one, I've rejoiced that people around the world are worshiping God with a common Spirit even if we don't share common language.

"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:9).