And a Little Child
Shall Lead Them

No picture I’ve ever painted has ministered to more people than the “Little Child” has.  Yes, the little child is our youngest daughter, Sarah.  At summers end we’d always vacation at a family on the coast of North Carolina, and Sarah would always make me promise to get up with her to collect shells on the beach.  I didn’t mind making that promise, but what I dreaded those morning was how early she’d wake me by waving a sandy bucket over my head, reminding me, “Daddy, you promised.”  On one of those mornings as I staggered out of bed to follow her I had a camera and said, 
“Sarah, stop at your next step.  I wanna get a photo.”  At 1/8 of a second, my handheld picture turned out perfectly so I made a print and hung it in my office, never thinking to paint it cause’ I’ve already told you I only paint “stories.”  

But one particular summer I ministered at Camp Lurecrest where lots of kids wanted me to pray for their troubled parents, and over and over I prayed that the way to their parents hearts would be through their children, because Isaiah 11:6 says, “And a little child shall lead them.”  And that’s when I saw the story in my photo of Sarah, because those mornings with her reminded me that yes, God gives us children for us to teach them, but more importantly, God gives us children for them to teach us.  Oh the lessons I’ve learned when “a little child led me to see how much the Father loved me! 

My poem from one of those morning of following Sarah to gather shells… 

“Wake up!” She said, rousing me from a deep sleep,  
A promise I made late, so early to keep. 
Following her footsteps of love in the sand,  
Still in her nightgown, with bucket in her hand, 
I remembered... “And a little child shall lead them.” 
“See this one!  And this one!” 
She squealed with such pleasure,  
They all looked alike, but to her each a treasure. 
I figured we’d gathered all the shells on the beach,  
Strolling back hand in hand
Did the Father’s voice teach... 
“This is the way it should be you and I,  Child of my heart, apple of my eye,” 
“And a little child shall lead them.”