The Faith of a Child

Wow.....it's easy to get "behind" on this blogging thing.  I had thought it would be easy to pour out post after post of humorous anecdotes.  Unfortunately, it's been a rather somber and draining few weeks.  During this time, my beautiful and brilliant son has taught me more than I ever thought possible.  But first, let me back up....

My Bonus Mom (aka step-mother) was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in early August.  Unfortunately this was not caught early (though it should have been), and everything progressed very quickly.  On October 19th, doctors confirmed that the cancer had reached her brain, and on October 30, we said our earthly goodbyes.  Throughout this time, I travelled back and forth as much as I could to spend time with my family and help in any way I could think of.  Travis, of course, came with me.  Mostly, he stayed with his Grandma.......he only saw "sick Nana" once. 

On the evening of her passing, I returned home to Travis and set him on my lap, giving him a big hug.  Here is a replay of our conversation:
Me:  "Travis, remember how Nana has been sick?"
Travis:  "Yes."
Me:  "Well, today she went to see Jesus."
Travis (jumping off my lap and pumping his arm like the Spartans had just scored a game winning play):  "YES!!  Now she gets to be in Heaven!"

You might think that this isn't such a big deal.  But after the very sad and emotional day I'd had it was just the right perspective.  It continued a few minutes later when he asked  me, "Mom, did you see Nana float up to Heaven?  Because if you did you should have grabbed her and gone with her to see God.  That's what I would have done."  I could think of nothing profound to say in response to his innocent excitement over the prospect of coming face to face with Almighty God.....so I just gave him a squeeze.

And so it goes.......daily he expresses his faith in profoundly simple ways.  Scripture says to "train up a child in the way he should go...."  Honestly, I think that my son is teaching me at least as much as I try to teach him.  Today as we were driving home from school he said, "Mom, I want to be a guy who digs up graves."  My first thought?  Too much Scooby Doo.  I decided to humor him and ask him why.  He responded, "Well, because I want to see that guy who tries to pull people away from God and tell him to shut up."  Amused, I said, "Do you mean the devil?"  Travis said, "Yea...that guy.  I think he's just stupid.  Why would anyone want to leave God?"