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My sister sent this email FW to me. I have no idea where it came from. You may have already seen it. Maybe you were there!

The 92 year Old Preacher

While watching a little TV on Sunday instead of going to church, I watched
a church in Atlanta, Ga honoring one of its senior pastors who had been
retired many years. He was 92 at that time and I wondered why the
Church even bothered to ask the old gentleman to preach at that age.

After a warm welcome, introduction of this speaker, and as the applause
quieted down he rose from his high back chair and walked slowly, with great
effort and a sliding gate to the podium. Without a note or written paper of
any kind he placed both hands on the pulpit to steady himself and then
quietly and slowly he began to speak....

'When I was asked to come here today and talk to you, your pastor asked me
to tell you what was the greatest lesson ever learned in my 50 odd years of
preaching. I thought about it for a few days and boiled it down to just one
thing that made the most difference in my life and sustained me through all
my trials. The one thing that I could always rely on when tears and heart
break and pain and fear and sorrow paralyzed me... the only thing that
would comfort was this verse.........

'Jesus loves me this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong,
we are weak but He is strong.....

Yes, Jesus loves me...
The Bible tells me so.'

When he finished, the church was quiet. You actually could hear his
foot steps as he shuffled back to his chair. I don't believe I will ever
forget it.

A pastor once stated, 'I always noticed that it was the adults who
chose the children's hymn 'Jesus Loves Me' (for the children of course)
during a hymn sing, and it was the adults who sang the loudest because I
could see they knew it the best.'

'Senior version of Jesus Loves Me'

Here is a new version just for us who have white hair or no hair at all.
For us over middle age (or even those almost there) and all you others,
check out this newest version of Jesus Loves Me.

JESUS LOVES ME

Jesus loves me, this I know,
Though my hair is white as snow
Though my sight is growing dim,
Still He bids me trust in Him.

(CHORUS) YES, JESUS LOVES ME.. YES, JESUS LOVES ME.
YES, JESUS LOVES ME FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO.

Though my steps are oh, so slow,
With my hand in His I'll go
On through life, let come what may,
He'll be there to lead the way.

(CHORUS)

When the nights are dark and long,
In my heart He puts a song.
Telling me in words so clear,
'Have no fear, for I am near.'

(CHORUS)

When my work on earth is done,
And life's victories have been won.
He will take me home above,
Then I'll understand His love

(CHORUS)

I love Jesus, does He know?
Have I ever told Him so?
Jesus loves to hear me say,
That I love Him every day.

(CHORUS)

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:12-14)

from Hosea 6
"Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth." (vs 3-4)

Do you think we ever stop being God's children?
Do you think we ever stop being Emerging Kids?
Does thinking that way help us build bridges between generations?
Does it give us more empathy for children? For other generations?

Jesus was that baby in Bethlehem. His father? The Ancient of Days, Alpha & Omega, the beginning and the end.

If we can give children (in every generation) a sense of the love and the presence of God that goes deeper than just cognitive understanding but penetrates down into the depths of their being, we've done our job. We can't do it alone - it's the work of the Holy Spirit.

But that's the job.