About three months ago, my 9-years-old daughter, Ashlyn, delivered a speech at the LTC convention in Dallas. I gave her a little guidance ahead of time, but when once she started to write the speech, she wrote it in its entirety without my help. Her speech was rooted in two stories that come from John 4. I'd like to share it now.
"My name is Ashlyn Smith. I'm a third grader. At school we have a 'Buddy Bench'. If someone has no one to play with, they can go sit on that bench and other students can see that they need a friend and ask to play with them. My school isn't the only one with the 'Buddy Bench'; many schools have it. The 'Buddy Bench' was actually created by a different school.
In John chapter 4, Jesus went over by a well. There was this women there getting some water. Jesus asked for a drink. The woman was confused. Jesus was a Jew and she was a Samaritan. They don't talk to each other. She asked him why he asked this. He answered her: 'You do not know what God's gift is. And you do not know who was asking you for a drink. If you did know, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.' Jesus let this woman in even though she was a Samaritan. And that's not the only thing. She also made some bad decisions. Jesus made a big impact on the Samaritan woman. After Jesus talked to her, she went out and told her entire village.
The Samaritan woman wasn't the only outsider Jesus reached in John chapter 4. One day, Jesus visited Cana in Galilee. A royal official was there. His son was in bed and sick at Capernaum. So, he went to Jesus and begged him to come and heal his son. The boy was close to death. Then, Jesus said, 'Go, your son will live.' The man believed what Jesus said and so he left. On his way home, his servant met him. He said his child's fever went away yesterday afternoon at one o'clock - the exact time Jesus told him 'Your son will live.' Jesus healed the man's son even though he was a Gentile. The Bible doesn't really tell us how Jesus impacted the royal official, but I'm sure it impacted him a lot, because it says his whole family became believers.
Jesus let several outsiders in even though they were different. We should all do that. That's what those friendship benches are for. One good example of the friendship bench in use is...one time there was a lonely boy at recess - Andrew. He was sitting on the friendship bench alone and I invited him to play with my friends at recess. Just like the Samaritan woman, Andrew made some bad behavior decisions. Because of Andrew's bad behavior decisions towards others, Andrew doesn't have many friends. Just like Jesus, it's important for us to reach out to other outsiders.
There is this band called Rend Collective. They wrote a song called "No Outsiders." I'd like to share the chorus with you.
"There are no outsiders to your love.
We are all welcome, there's grace enough.
When I have wondered, Lord,
Your cross is the open door.
There are no outsiders to your love." - Ashlyn (and Shay)
