Church Kid: The Church Yard

When I was around seven or eight years old, we moved and started attending a different church. It was a little more urban and had one thing my first church didn't...

A huge field beside it.

To the adults, it was probably just an empty lot.

To us kids, it was our playground.

Before church, after church, and sometimes whenever the adults were busy talking, we'd be out there running, playing tag, throwing footballs, or just finding ways to entertain ourselves. We didn't have phones, video games, or much of anything else. Give us a big field and a few friends, and we'd stay busy for hours.

One spring, the field was covered in clover.

Now, if you've ever seen a clover field, you know what comes with it...

Bees.

For some reason that only made sense to little boys, we decided it would be fun to squish them by clapping our hands together. The trick was not to get stung while smashing the bee. In hindsight, we shouldn't have been doing it, but, hey, we were kids. 

Looking back, I'm amazed none of us got stung more often than we did.

Inside the church, there was always something going on too.

I remember one musical where the older youth group was singing on several rows of risers. One of the girls on the top tier had spent a little too much time out in the sun that afternoon. Right in the middle of the program, she fainted and tumbled off the back of the risers. THUD

Thankfully, she wasn't seriously hurt, but I don't think anyone watching forgot that performance.

As kids, we didn't think much about it.

Church was just where we were.

It was where our friends were.

It was where we laughed, played, occasionally did things that probably weren't the smartest, and made memories we'll never forget.

Looking back now, I realize I was blessed to grow up in a place where church wasn't just something we attended—it was part of everyday life.

"I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord.'"
Psalm 122:1 (NKJV)

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