When I was growing up we had no money. No fancy toys. Sometimes barely food. Hand-me-down clothes. No travel to foreign countries, or even the city.

We could play all day with a piece of wood and the lid off the garbage can. We could imagine ourselves knights, or soldiers or even a whole army. We never had a toy that talked or flashed lights or moved with an electric motor or used batteries.

The reason that came to mind goes back to when we had our two Grandsons stay overnight with us. After supper we went to the nearby park. At one end of this large park an artificial hill rises above the ball diamonds and soccer fields and skate park.

Where we live the land is very flat. The hill becomes the local mountain.

For us it became a climbing hill for walking up and down, or running down to ambush Grandpa and Grandma, or just to walk around.

No batteries or computerized games. Just together climbing, running, walking or Grandpa being a seesaw.

Simple. Innocent. Delightful. Free of cost. Lots of fun.

Jesus, the Person (not the theology or the dogma), offers the same experience for life. And we don’t need elaborate doctrine, high-tech worship spaces, personal jets, award-winning architecture, rigid membership requirements or the latest fad in church growth theories.

The early Church had no technology, buildings, or complicated religious organizations, yet Jesus was preached in every part of the vast Roman Empire, at least as far south as Ethiopia, and as far east as India according to some stories. All this in one generation.

Today with all the fancy gadgets and wealthy religious leaders and vast structures there are more atheists than in any other time of history. Christ followers need a lot more Micah 6:8:

“You mortals, the Lord has told you what is good.
This is what the Lord requires from you:
to do what is right,
to love mercy,
and to live humbly with your God” (God’s Word Translation©).