Heroes in a Half Shell: How I Re-Learned Childlike Faith

** I am HONORED to feature this guest blog from my son, Josiah Ammons! The passion, wisdom, and depth of love I witness from my son every day inspires me. Josiah is 18 years old and is a leader and friend who is well respected in every room he enters. He adores Jesus and preaches his Kingdom powerfully through his life and his words. (He's also one of the funniest people I have ever met!) I just KNOW you'll love him as much as we do! - Chuck

When I was 10 years old, I was obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As Christmas approached that year, I can vividly remember pacing back and forth every night with my thoughts firmly fixed on one thing: finding the TMNT “Turtle Lair” Playset with my name on it underneath the tree. I wasn’t sure it was even possible to receive a gift of such significance, but I had made my best effort to shout the desires of my heart so that it was unmistakable for my parents. I can remember talking to my dad about all of the cool features it had, walking him through each one in vivid detail and sharing how it was the only thing a kid like me could ever want in the whole world, as he simply smiled back and said, “We’ll see.”

I thought there was a chance I could get it. A glimmer of hope. This was when my tween brother entered the scene to tell me that my faith was foolishly misguided. “That thing's like $200. I'd be surprised if you even get the Turtle Van," he told me. 

My confidence was shot. I wanted to believe there was something great waiting for me, but a harsh reality crept in that my hopes and my dreams were unrealistic. I'm one of five kids and my brother was right: $200 was a ton of money for one gift in a large family. 

And just like that, I began to mourn the loss of something that hadn’t even happened yet. Now, my brother is not the villain here. Maybe he was a little jealous of the idea of me receiving such a lavish gift. Perhaps, he was trying to protect me from being let down. Most likely, he was just annoyed by my nonstop blabbering about all things Ninja Turtle. 

Whatever his reason, I turned my attention away from my dad’s history of faithful love for me toward a fear that perhaps he wouldn’t come through. It is amazing how many of us lose childlike faith in our heavenly Father in simple unintentional moments like this. But it isn’t God who is giving us reasons to doubt. Rather, our faith fails when we take our eyes off of our Father and start listening to lies unworthy of our faith…even if they are whispered in our ears by a brother.

From Instagram to the election booth, we live in a society that shouts, "Follow Me,” into their own images of what we should believe or stand for. Spoiler alert: most of the time, the crowd isn’t leading us to pastures of vibrant, living faith. Suicide rates are up, riots are breaking out, and approximately 1.2 million people are leaving the church each year. Life looks pretty grim and there doesn't seem to be a lot of hope. 

But what if I told you that there's a way to flip what, and how, we’re seeing? 

What if we could hold onto hope in our Father even when crowds of “brothers” assert the opposite of what we’re hope for? 

The beginning of Matthew 18 offers a glimpse of what I mean. Jesus is in Galilee preaching, when his disciples come with a question: 

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them and he said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me." Matthew 18:1-5

How does “faith like little children” change what's happening around us? Are you ready? 

It doesn't. 

Childlike faith changes nothing about the circumstances happening around you. It doesn't alter what someone wrongly said or what another wrongly did. But it does re-orient the Story you choose to receive within you.

When I was a kid, I was convinced my dad was a superhero. And when problems would arise, I would run to him to save me. Some would call it tattle-telling, but as a kid I placed my faith in my dad's hands to say, “This isn't my fight.” 

Some of us need to put our egos down and give "our problems" to “our Father.” Maybe you didn’t have a superhero earthly dad, but it doesn't matter if you're a freshman in High School or 102 years old: you’ve got a superhero Heavenly Father. 

It's time that we stop over-complicating our faith by returning to the simplicity of child-like wonder. You don't need a checklist or to have it all together. You just need to come like a kid. Are you stuck, hitting walls in your walk with God and afraid you’re running the wrong way? That’s because the path to your Father isn’t a maze. It’s a “Slip N Slide.” You aren’t supposed to figure it out but to surrender and jump in to wherever his Living Water wants to take you.

You have to be willing to let go; willing to drop everything you feel you need to be mature or put together, or to look good on the outside. Be messy. Be a kid. When you’re wronged, go and tattle-tell to him. Cry and have fits. When you’re worked up about the treasures of your heart, tell him about all the things you desire. If you have eyes to see it, you may just see him smiling back, as he listens to every word pouring from your heart. 

Following him like a child means you get your wonder back. Wonder, living in the now, making friends and living life regardless of what people say. 

Follow Jesus like he intends you to; depend on him, be humble; put your own desires aside and listen. You will encounter the presence of the Holy Spirit if you come in low like a child; low, just like he did for us.

It doesn't matter what the world around you is saying. You only need to know what he says. Having childlike faith is letting go of the controls and letting your Father be your Father. We've heard the famous Carrie Underwood song, "Jesus Take the Wheel." If you're living in childlike faith, of course your Father is behind the wheel…and you’re probably in a booster seat!

One last thing. Just because you're walking in childlike faith, that doesn't mean you don't have authority. You need to remember that your Father is King and that makes you Royalty. You have a voice, use it. 

This brings me back to Christmas morning. You may be wondering what happened that day. That morning, to both mine and my brother's surprise, I unwrapped a box that was nearly bigger than I was to find the one and only “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtle Lair!” I screamed. I rejoiced. I cried a little bit (ok, a lot)…and I was so incredibly thankful. 

That morning I realized I should've never doubted my dad. I should've trusted that he wants what’s best for me, just like my heavenly Father. That day, I remembered what it was to surrender a little bit and stop trying to control everything around me. My dad had me…and it was good to be a kid. Where is it time for you to join me?