A while ago my friends and I were serving at a church in Auckland, preparing food. As dinner time came around we ventured out of the deep, dark recesses of the kitchen to join the back of the food line. The line started in the cafe area where there were a bunch of kids running around and screaming, most likely abandoned by their parents for some refuge. (It’s funny how the only place where it’s considered normal to ditch your kids is church). One of the young women who had been helping out that day was behind me in the queue, and I kept seeing her turning around in annoyance studying the young kids. As I was doing the same, I thought nothing of it – probably some delightful children’s pastor had fed them up on a massive sugar high.
After 20 minutes I managed to grab some food (although the salad had been picked dry of olives), and as I was approaching my table I was accosted by the same young woman who I had seen “giving the evils” to the rowdy kids earlier. “Did you hear that flippin’ kids language!?” she stated. “Nah” was all I could say before hearing a minutes worth of obscenities communicated to me that had come out of a particular young girl’s mouth, and how irresponsible her parents must be. The young child was pointed out to me and although she looked familiar, I couldn’t help cracking up when I was told that this young three year old girl had told one of the other kids to “Shuddup or she would get the bash!”. “I just don’t think a girl that young should even know what the ‘F’ word is!” I was told before I moved on. As I sat down, I saw (and heard) the young girl quite articulately pronounce the ‘F’ word more than once and then saw her run to the door in excitement as her father entered the room. Again I had to laugh out loud ( lol ) but this time it was because this child’s father is actually the pastor of a local church I know.
Ends up there is a reason this child has bad language and it does have a lot to do with the parents – but not in the way you think. You see these pastors have moved from the ‘nicer’ parts of Auckland to the poorest part to serve God and love their community. They have not only decided to serve the people God has called them to, but they have moved their family to live in the neighborhood. They are now fully integrated into the community and their children go to the local preschool, so it’s no wonder they come home with some colourful expressions! I am sure this is just a small part of the sacrifice this family has had to make here. Another friend of mine once asked this young girl about her doll. As my friend was being told all about the doll she was surprised to hear that the doll’s father was in prison. In what world do young three year old girls know that fathers are in prison and the mother stays at home to look after the children? That world is not many minutes drive from where I currently live, and that world is sadly becoming more a part of the world in which we all live. But, do we want to be a part of the solution? That’s the question.
What a powerful testament to living out Gods calling! Can you imagine the flak that these parents must get at Christmas or other family holidays? What would your parents say if you came home with some new vocab after playing at the local pastors house? Somehow in a weird way I reckon Jesus probably cracks up too when he hears these things. I also reckon he has a huge smile when he looks down and sees this pastor and his family loving the community that they are in so much, that at times they may get a bad name from it.
So, ‘Should three year olds know the ‘F’ word?’… I’ll let you decide. I did however tell the young woman that the reason behind that three year olds language was that there is a deep sacrificial love for the lost… maybe more three year olds should know the ‘F’ word and this world would be a better place!