I never met a kid I didn’t like! 

The Lord called me to work with children when I was eighteen and took my first primary Sunday School Class, and I have been involved almost continually for forty years.

Emory fell into working with kids when we married. He began with our blended family of seven children, and wherever God sent us we were always involved with kids. All sizes, shapes, colors and temperaments from every background imaginable, in Sunday School, Boys and Girls Clubs, youth groups, youth choirs.

Wherever we lived, we made it a habit to reach as many as we could for Jesus. Our large family vehicle-usually a van-always had an extra kid or two that we squeezed in for Sunday School or whatever. We took seriously the commandment of Jesus to go into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in. (Luke 14:23) Once we sold our ski boat and bought a bigger van so we could fill it with more children.

Emory had a habit of watching for kids who were playing outside on Sunday morning instead of going to church. He would pay them a visit and ask if they wanted to go. If they showed interest, we got the parents’ permission to pick them up. Through the years we used this method to pack three different vans for three different churches. This method also helped us build a Sunday School from 30 something to over 60 in about 3 months, and a youth group from 4 or 5 kids to twenty something  in one month. Over and over this principle worked.

 hen, after we retired we drove school buses. Another incredible chance to love children into the kingdom. God blessed every effort we made. Do I sound like I’m boasting? You bet!! I am boasting about a God who blesses all those who are willing to obey His commandment to go wherever He sends us.  

I recall when we were kids and had to go to the fields to work. If we were a bit slow my Daddy would say, “You can’t pick no cotton if you don’t get out in the patch.”

Beloved, when was the last time you got out in the patch? –Rebecca Somoskey