Cruz's Stories

            This is a story of two stories. One is a fictional story and one is the story of a young man’s life.

WOW!! God is incredible!!  Throughout the day, the logistics of teaching  writing  to 6^th graders spin around in the recesses of my mind.   I am excited about the opportunity to teach writing this upcoming school year, but I am also slightly apprehensive about this responsibility.  I like to write, but teaching a Preteen to write is a whole other ballgame. 

            So how does God’s amazing wonders and writing connect? Well, Raston begged me to have him come over and hang out at our house. Along with Raston came Cruz and Lesleen. During our crunchy taco dinner, we started talking about school and if I was their teacher. 

            I commented “ If you were my student, I would teach you how to write.”

            Cruz quickly retorted, “ I already know how to write, I will write you a story now.”

            For the next thirty minutes Cruz wrote his story (written at the end of this post).  Next we edited his story together. He was very excited about the prospect of his story appearing on this blog. Through discussing his story, our conversation turned to God’s promises and from God’s promises to the Gospel and what Jesus did for us.  We searched through my Bible and looked at scriptures about how Jesus’s sacrifice for us.  We looked at our sin separates us from God and makes it impossible to have a relationship with Him. We discussed how God made him who had no sin to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) so that we can have a relationship with God through Jesus and Jesus alone.  Through Cruz’s questions and comments, it was evident that God was opening the eyes of his heart and drawing him to Himself.

When we were discussing how Jesus took our sin upon Himself, Cruz looked at me and said on more than one occasion, “Jesus took my place for the bad things that I have done. I never knew that before today.”  In those moments, Jesus’s death was becoming very personal to Cruz.

Cruz continued to ask me questions, and we continued to look at scriptures. We talked about we can never be good enough, and that is why Jesus had to take our place. We talked about how salvation is gift that we have to accept through faith. Then we talked about how when you become a Christian, your life in not your own anymore. God is now in control.

After a long conversation, Cruz looks at me and says, “ I want God to take control of my life.”

We talked a little more about what it meant to be a Christian, and he said again, “I want God to be in control through Jesus.”

Cruz then prayed the most heartfelt prayer agreeing with God about the bad things he’s done to hurt God and asking God to take control of his life and change him through Jesus.

After Cruz prayed we talked about a little about assurance of salvation. We read the verses in Romans 8 about how nothing can separate us from God’s love.

When I finished reading them aloud, he exclaimed, “Wow, God’s love is really powerful!”

We also talked about how we are called to tell other people about how God has changed us. Cruz immediately said he was going to tell his friends, so God could change them too.

God ministered to my heart this evening that I spent with Cruz. One of my all time favorite verses is Philemon 6 I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith so that you  will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.  Sometimes I get caught up in the motions and I hear God’s Word in my head, but it doesn’t resonate in my heart. While I was watching Cruz gain a heart understanding of the gospel for the very first time, God was whispering to my spirit,  “Kelly, I took your sin upon me too.  Nothing can separate you from my love. Be in awe of me... I am worthy to be praised.” The gospel is continually at work in the lives of the believer.  It is so important that we never become hardened to every good thing we have in Christ.

As promised to Cruz, here is his story that he wrote me tonight.

           

Once upon a time, there was this kid name Lick a Stick till it Gets Sick (for short, Sling. He was bullied by kids at his Cause a Kid Club. One day, this new kid came to join the club.  Everyday after school they had their club activity time. So that new kid was just walking around until he saw Sling on the ground. He went over to Sling and helped him up. He knew Sling felt uncool to say what happened. So He helped Sling up and walked him to the club.  After the club activity, they went home. While walking home, he finally saw why Sling was hurt. Even though Sling was hurt, he would still never tell anybody.

            The new boy said to Sling, “You are a good boy. You have a lot of heart.”

            Sling just walked away. Everyday the new boy always sees Sling on the ground. One day  Sling told himself to stat fighting back.

So he went up to the bullies and said,  “Why do you always bully me?”’

One of them said, “Because we are men.”

Sling said, “Being a man is not fighting; it is doing what is right and fighting for what is good.”

So the next day the bullies came up to Sling and said, “You are a good boy with a lot of heart. I wish I was like you.”

They lived happily ever after.

By Cruz Ignacio

This is Cruz during Backyard Bible Club this morning.

Busy writing his story

I love how God even uses teaching writing to provide opportunities for sharing the gospel. 

Much love to all!