The Best Christmas Shopping Trip, Ever

This weekend, Dad was gone for the evening helping a friend, so the two kids and I piled in the car and headed for the mall to get in some Christmas shopping without Dad.  Incidentally, we bought all kinds of things, but Dad’s gift is still un-purchased.  On the way home, I plugged in my iPod and we were listening to my selection of Christmas songs.

After ‘Mary Did you Know?’ and in the middle of  ‘Beautiful Star of Bethlehem’ my 7-year-old daughter asked a profound question, “Mom, how did God create the world before he was born?” Pause for a moment and let that question sink in. . . . . .

But that wasn’t all.  After my daughter asked this question, my 9-year-old son piped up before I could even answer.

He said, “I know that there are lots of things that are confusing about God, but there was never a time when God didn’t exist.  Confusing isn’t it?”  She said, “Yeah.”  I went on to explain that Jesus has always existed, but that he decided to come to earth so that we would know that God was real.  He died on the cross and paid for our sins so that we can truly know God.   But, that wasn’t the end of the discussion.

My son then said, “There are lots of things that are confusing for humans, like how God is three people in one person.” Then came this (how does a 9-year-old even think about these sorts of things?):

“I asked Daddy, ‘Why did God put the tree in the center of the Garden?’  If the tree wasn’t there, then Adam and Eve wouldn’t have eaten it and then there wouldn’t be sin in the world.  But Daddy said, ‘If the tree wasn’t there then we wouldn’t really be free [to choose God].’”  At this point, the depth of the conversation was making my head spin.

Then, after my son finishes his discourse on why sin entered into the world, my daughter says, “I know what my temptation is.”  When I asked what it was, she answered, and it wasn’t a simple childish concern either.  I’m not going to divulge her own personal admission of what she struggles with, but she was exactly right.  She had thought about it, identified it, and knew her own personal struggle.  Wow! I explained that she could pray and ask God when she felt tempted and that he would help her to overcome it.

As we pulled into the alley behind our house, I told my children how proud I was of them for asking good questions and wanting to know what God says about things.  I thought we were wrapping up the conversation, but there was more . . .

My daughter said, “Of course we’re concerned about these things, we’re Christians.”  I explained that not everyone is a christian and many people don’t really think about what that means or what God wants of them.  I was so glad that they were concerned.  But now, here’s the climax of it all.

My son looked at me and said, “I have a friend and she is not a Christian but she wants to be.”  I asked my son if he had thought about telling her how to be a Christian.  He looked at me with big, green, tear-filled eyes and said,   “But I’ve heard that the teachers aren’t allowed to talk about God and that they’ll get in trouble. I figure I’ll be in trouble if I talk about it too.”  I choked back my own tears and said, “There is a story in the Bible that talks about that.”

We came inside and I opened my Bible to Acts 4.  I read the story of Peter and John and how the authorities commanded them not to speak in the name of Jesus.  But in Acts 4:18-20 the Bible says:

Then they [the officials] called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

I looked into the eyes of my dear children and explained that we are supposed to follow the rules to the best of our ability and that we always have to be kind and considerate.  But the Bible also teaches that when we are forced to choose between following the rules of men or following God, that choice is clear.  I then told them, “Mommy and Daddy would be very proud of  you if you got in trouble at school for telling people about Jesus.”

My children aren’t perfect.  They are fallen people just like me.  They will have their personal struggles and will have to find God’s path for themselves.  We are certainly  not perfect parents.  But for one moment, for one conversation, in one night, we could see that God is speaking to their little hearts.  So, for you parents, your children are watching.  They can understand more than you could ever imagine.

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