The children, smiling, full of energy and exuberance, ran toward me as I re-entered the Simpson Room on a Sunday morning in late November.

“Mr. Bill! We need another job!”

We had spent Children’s Church together, and then we joined a group that was filling the “care packages” we send to college students in the SUMC family in advance of finals week. The children filled the boxes with candy and crackers and popcorn and packets of hot chocolate.

When we finished filling the boxes, we signed cards, assembly-line style, for each college student, and then made two trips to the church basement. We carried cardboard to be recycled on the first trip, and returned odds and ends to the Sunday school rooms on the second trip.

The kids ran ahead of me and, after I labored up the stairs and returned to the Simpson Room, they rushed me. “Mr. Bill! We need another job!”

I pointed toward the bulletin board in the back of the room. It hadn’t been touched in nearly two years. I asked them to create, and, as we waited for lunch, they posted “Friendship is power” across the open space. Each letter in the phrase was an inspired work of art.

After lunch, the children helped us deliver the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to a collection site in Moon.

As I cherished the morning, as I thought about the children running toward me, I felt so blessed to be inside the moment, to know the children, to see them growing and moving and serving, loving each other and loving every opportunity we placed in front of them.

And I thought about God.

I wondered how He would feel if we ran toward Him, shouting, with joy and energy, “Lord, we need another job!”

Lord, show us how we can help. Lord, give us more opportunities to serve and share and love.

Let’s make that our first sunset prayer of 2022.

On January 2, as the sun sets around 5:05 pm, with whomever wants to join you, lets pray together and ask God for more opportunities in the New Year. Lord, help us see the places where Your Love is needed. Help us see the people who are hungry, cold, alone, or afraid, and give us the energy, imagination, and joy we need to connect and share.

“Lord, we need another job.”

And let’s lift a prayer for the children. Lord, show us opportunities to include them and nourish them, because we know they want to help too.