October 19, 2003  Julian Diaz-Granados (Youth Sunday)

When I was getting ready for my sermon, I was working with my Mom and Dad. We were all looking in different bibles. When my Dad looked at the verse Isaiah 40: 31 in my Mom’s bible it was circled. It turns out that my Mom circled it when she was about 16 years old. She had no idea that one day she was going to have a baby boy and when he grew up and turned eleven that he was going to say a sermon on it. When my Dad figured that out, it made a shiver go down my spine. At first, I didn’t believe him. I don’t believe there is such a thing as coincidence. I think that little things like that are reminders that God is still with us and is there to give us advice. Let’s say our life is a hiking path. I think that coincidences are like path markers. If we see those every now and then, that means we are on the right path. If we don’t see them, we are either not paying enough attention to God and not seeing them, or we are getting off course. I think that everything is meant to be. God doesn’t look down on earth and say, “Wow! I had no idea that was going to happen.” God has a plan for everyone on earth.

What the verse from Isaiah says is, “Yet those that wait for the Lord will be given new strength. They will mount up like wings of an eagle. They will run and not be tired. They shall walk and not become weary.” What this means to me is that if you believe in God, you will be given strength, meaning eternal life. You will be in Heaven with God and will never become tired or weak.

From the reading in Matthew, Jesus cleanses the temple and the children who are watching are amazed. The children begin to cheer and say, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”. The chief priests and scribes were not too happy about this. They said to Jesus, “Do you hear what they are saying?” And Jesus answered, “Yes, have you not read “Out of the mouth of babies and nursing infants, Thou has prepared praise for Thyself.”?” He walked away from the city of Bethany and lodged there.

I believe what he is saying is that God comes out through children a lot. He’s saying that kids can make a big difference in the world. I think of it this way. Every generation of kids is like a block being added to a staircase. The more blocks we have, the closer we get to God. If we build more and more and more, then eventually we will live as one, heaven and earth. We will have world peace. We will reach out and help others that are less fortunate. And we will our lives peacefully without conflict and having to worry about everything. We will live as God wanted us to live in the beginning.

 

 

 


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