Yeah, but...

As I put everything on the table for lunch today, Jack was jabbering away. Saying made-up silly words. Not a problem till a word we don't allow came out of his mouth. He said the word, "Stupid."

This was not the first time it came out. I had reminded him a couple times already that I didn't want him to use that word. So... I pulled a Jay Boshart and told him to go to the bathroom for a mouth washout.

Yuck. I remember those. Dad always went to the sink with the worst tasting soap. (Can I get an amen Boshart kids?)

Me, I'm lazy, I went to the closest sink.

We walk into the bathroom and Jack looks up at me with an expression I would describe as "cautious and thoughtful."

"Mom," he says.

"Yes Jack," I answer.

"Was saying 'stupid' a sin?"

"It was a sin because I told you not to say it and you disobeyed me. Disobeying your parents is a sin."

He looked up at me, possibly thinking he had found a loophole, or maybe just trying to understand sin better. His reply:

"Well, Then Jesus already paid for it."


Nice try Jack.

Jack's questions

Yesterday afternoon.

Jack woke up from his nap about 5 minutes after I got Ty down. For some reason Ty couldn't sleep and Jack woke up due to some congestion in his nose. Poor kid. Poor mama.

Anyways... I invited him downstairs to hangout and play race car. I was about to start cutting and filing coupons (cause I'm cool like that).

A few minutes into our tasks Jack asks me: "Mama, when is God's next birthday?"

I put down my scissors and got ready to teach him another attribute of God. He stopped playing cars as I explained my answer.

"Jack, God has never had a birthday. Do you know why? Because God has always been. A long time before you were born, God was alive. A long time before I was born, God was alive and even before the world was here. God was alive! And Jack, God is never going to die. He is going to live forever. And Jack, God said that people who follow Jesus will get to come live in heaven with Him forever."

I love all the questions that God put on Jack's heart. I know the questions were from God because without Him drawing us to Himself, man wouldn't come to God. Unless God reveals himself to us, it just sounds like foolishness. I can't help but smile as I think of our great God whispering questions into Jack's mind. Or think about the teachers at MDO and our church who assist Mike and I in building a firm foundation of truth on which we pray that God would build. Jack knows a lot about God (for a child) but still so little...

"I'm going to live in heaven!" Jack was quick to reply. "Mama, are you going to live in heaven?

"Yes Jack, I am. I get to live in Heaven because I follow Jesus."

"I follow Jesus too Mommy!"

"Good, but there is more than that. I have sinned and sin keeps me from getting to go to God. Have you ever sinned Jack?"

"Yes." Then his eyes light up, "Jesus died on the cross for my sins!" Something he had been taught but didn't really grasp yet.

I continue, "Jesus paid for my sins. My sins are what keeps me from getting to go to heaven. Because God is holy...."

"What is holy?" Jack asked.

"Holy means 'without sin'. Because God is holy, he can't have any sin around him. My sin keeps me from getting to be with God. That's why Jesus had to die. To get rid of my sin. When we sin there has to be punishment. Jesus died as the punishment. And now when I die I get to go to heaven."

"That's where Jesus is! He's in heaven building a house." Jack's getting excited. "When I gunna go to heaven?

"Well, you will when you die or when Jesus comes back to get us. We don't know when He's coming back. It may be while we are alive and it may be after we die."

"Yeah, cause it's a looooooong house. [Jack stretches his arms out as far as they'll go]

"But Jack, you will only get there if you ask God to forgive your sins and you trust him. Then you have to follow him."

"I will follow Jesus! Where's Jesus going?"

I explained that following Jesus meant that we follow what he teaches us in the Bible. The conversation went on a little longer and he repeated a prayer after me. We asked for understanding and that God would show Jack what it meant to follow Jesus with his whole life.

I'm a little apprehensive about taking him through the "sinner's prayer" right now. I believe that there are lots and lots of people who think they are saved (Christians) but in reality they are not. You can't just pray a prayer and go on with your life. The Bible teaches that salvation is FREE but if you have really given your life to Jesus then there will be proof in the way you live. I, by no means, want my children to have a false assurance of their salvation.

Jesus teaches that on the day of judgment "Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ (Matt. 7:21-23)

He also says: "... small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matt. 7:14)

Mike is out of town for a few more days. I'm hoping he and I can spend some time praying together and visiting about how to direct Jack's heart. I don't want to lead him into something he doesn't fully understand, and I don't want to be a stumbling block if God is calling him to come to Himself right now.

Thank you for praying for Jack's salvation and wisdom for Mike and I as we council him.