Pastor Scott's Thoughts: And a Child Shall Lead Them

I have really been convicted by the recent story of Austin Gutwein, a 12 year-old boy from Arizona who three years ago had an idea for helping people in Africa. He had just seen a video on the AIDS crisis in Africa and decided that he would try to make a difference. Although he had just been cut from his school's basketball team he decided to find sponsors who would pay him for every freethrow he could make. That first year he raised $3000.

Three years later, and with the help of World Vision, Austin and now several hundred other children in Arizona have shot baskets and raised over $250,000. Austin's idea generated the funds necessary to build a school for 1,000 students in a small village in Zambia. Now they are raising money to build a medical lab and hospital.

There have been many stories done about Austin recently, but you can find one of those stories at the following link - www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/1130430hoops-CR.html

What convicts me most about Austin is his optimistic view of the world. In his own childlike way he simply believes that each person can make a difference. There are times when I feel like the church - myself included - has lost the optimism of grace. Especially Christians from a Weselyan tradition ought to be excited about what God could do because we believe that grace not only forgives people but has the power to transform people as well.

There are certainly complex and seemingly impossible conflicts and issues in the world that seem beyond the hope of transformation, but perhaps we could all use a little more of Austin's optimistic view of God's ability to bring about change. Maybe that is in part what Jesus meant when he said that we need to all become like little children and what Isaiah meant when he said that a little child would lead us.