When Children Are BIGGER Than Men

Sometimes men are too big to be brave. That's a concept the Wess Stafford develops in a chapter of his book, Too Small To Ignore - Why Children Are the Next Big Thing. The chapter is called When "Follow the Leader" Isn't Childs Play. It is here that Stafford lists biblical accounts of God passing over grown-ups and using the bravery and purity of children.

In Exodus 2, Mariam, Moses' older sister faces Pharoah's daughter and thinks on her feet when the princess finds baby Moses and fishes him out of the NIle. Mariam's bravery and quick thinking saved Moses.

In 1 Samuel 3, God passes over a corrupt priesthood, and starts speaking and working through the boy, Samuel.

The boy, David, faces a giant in 1 Samuel 17. You know the story.

Aramaen mercenaries snatched an Israeli girl in 2 Kings 5 and sold her into slavery. Her new master, a powerful man and enemy of Israel was also the victim of an incurably disgusting disease. He was Naaman the leper. The girl told Naaman of a prophet of God wth the power to heal. I wonder if she knew she had the power to choose to watch her enemy suffer or if she naturally, as a naive child, only did what was good.

In John 6, a boy shared his lunch with the Savior Who is able to feed a multitude.

A girl watching Peter warming himself by a fire puts his feet to the fire in Mark 14 when she faces him and charges him, "You also were with that Nazerene, Jesus."

Adults are supposed to protect children. But all too often, adults prey on children. And children bravely face them.

That's what happened in that shooting at the Amish School you've heard so much about this past week.

CHRIS FRANCESCANI ABC Law & Justice Unit

Oct. 5, 2006 — The oldest of the five Amish girls shot dead in a Pennsylvania schoolhouse is said to have stepped forward and asked her killer to "Shoot me first," in an apparent effort to buy time for her schoolmates.

Rita Rhoads, a midwife who delivered two of the victims, told ABC News' Law and Justice Unit that she learned of 13-year-old Marian Fisher's plea from Fisher's family.

What's more, Fisher's 11-year-old sister, Barbie, who survived the shooting, allegedly asked the gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, to "Shoot me second," Rhoads said.

"They were amazing," Rhoads said, "absolutely amazing. There was a tremendous amount of calm and courage in that schoolroom." <read the rest of the story>

This is an amazing story. I hope we hear more about the heroic selflessness of these kids. What kind of impact could children like these have on our world if given a chance to live.

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