• Sep. 15, 2007
Another one bound for glory!!!
You know how we try to raise our children to love God and live for His Glory? Well, it has been brought to my attention that despite church, despite Bible study, despite my talking and "explaining" to, my son still did not really "get it."
I intentionally did not watch any of the September 11th anniversay memorials because I knew how I would react. I did not want to upset my children with my tears. Well, my son had been looking at some stuff on You Tube before he went outside. I sat down at the computer and saw that one of the videos by the same person who created the cartoon video he was looking at was a 9-11 tribute video. What harm could come from watching just one video?
One turned into several. There I was crying and weeping and praying when my son walked in. As it happened he walked in while I was watching a video about how God was there (http://youtube.com/watch?v=LxJiiWo0JbE). Some He called home and some refused to answer His call yet again. Then, there was that tug. Not from my son, but from God. "Hey! Talk to him. He needs to know why." Well, I "knew" my son knew why, but I asked anyway. Nope. He didn't -- "not really" were his words.
So, there we were sitting in the middle of the floor talking and crying and listening and explaining. There were many questions that I wasn't prepared for, yet I was because God gave me the answers. It was truly heartwrenching to find out that despite what I thought were my "best efforts" my son did not really understand what it means to have a relationship with God. He did not really understand what Jesus dying on the cross meant for him. I have explained and talked and read and prayed and more his entire life. Yet he still did not understand. So I had failed him. But this was not about me. This was about him and his salvation. I explained as best I could and told him Scripture that applied and was relevant. HE GOT IT!! Then, came more questions......
How could he know that he would go to Heaven? How come some people didn't answer God? How can he hear God? Why did God let His own Son be killed? Will He be able to see Jesus? Are Jesus and God the same person? What is the Holy Spirit? Why do you pray for Osama bin Laden and his bad men? (I'll answer that one for you all a little later.) And so many more questions.
God is so very awesome!! I had the answers to his questions and could put them all in terms that he understood. HE GOT IT!!!
After all the explaining and answering of questions, I asked him if he wanted to have a personal relationship with God and ask Jesus to come into his heart. He did and we prayed. We prayed not only for Jesus to come into his heart and give him Salvation, but for my own walk to be strengthened and renewed.
That was two days ago. At first I felt so ashamed and under-qualified as a human being, much less a parent. Then, it dawned on me, the timing was just not right before. He wasn't ready. I had been planting seeds and finally they took. He came to me yesterday and told me that sometimes he feels like there are two parts of him. When he's doing something he shouldn't he doesn't remember the good side of him. When he does something good, he doesn't remember the bad side of him. I told him that was normal and that we are all human and will do bad things at times, but that is why we need Jesus in our hearts and lives. So when we do bad things, we can apolpgize and be forgiven by our earthly family and friends and by God. i told him that as he matures he will be more aware of both sides of him and will understand himself better. He says he wants to be more good than bad and will try really hard. Ahhh....what wonderful music to any parent's ears (earthly or Heavenly).
Okay, why do I pray for Osama bin Laden and his followers? Well, it is actually really simple. If their hearts can be softened enough to allow Jesus into their hearts, they will no longer be a threat to us. There are a great many evils and evil doers out there. If they were all to allow Jesus into their hearts, they would no longer be evil doers, but soldiers for Christ. Wouldn't that be awesome? Yes, I have been ridiculed and even yelled at and called crazy and blasphemous for praying for bin Laden and his followers. So. I am in no way comparing myself to Jesus here, but didn't the same happen to Him? Some may not agree with me praying for evil doers, but I just shrug it off. I know that God wants me to pray for them...."not one should perish."....so I do. It's okay if no one understands it or even likes it. I do not need their permission or approval.
No, my son does not agree with me about praying for "bad people." He thinks they are bad and they need to be punished and he told me that he has actually prayed for bad people to be punished. Well, I cannot say that I don't want the "bad people" caught and punished by our laws. I jsut don't want Satan getting any glory and I feel that is what happens when an evil doer/"badperson" dies without a relationship with God and Jesus as their Savior. But that is a whole other issue. Back to my son.
I have seen a noticeable change in him already. He really tries to be "good." He questions himself before he says or does things that might not be "okay." What's funny it I had just decided to take Bible class out of our homeschooling curriculum. Am I going to put it back in now that he "gets it?" No. And no, I am not crazy. I decided to take it out because I do not want reading the Bible to be "just a part of school" or something he "has" to do. I want it to be something that he can do for enjoyment and enlightenment. Now this is not to say that the Bible won't be a part of our schooling. It definitely will. I just do not want him to ever feel like reading the Bible is work or a chore. I want him to WANT to read the Bible. So, no more Bible classes, but still many Bible references that we can and will look up. We will have more quiet time together reading the Bible with each other. I may add Bible classes back into the curiculum in the future, but for right now, I think more one on one reading and discussion would be better suited for us. I will still incorporate some of the curriculum I have into our reading, but as a guide, not as lessons.
So, we are really excited around here. As you can imagine. There is another soul bound for GLORY. YEA!!
The grass sure is green over here on our side of the fence. God is just so AWESOME.
