It's all about Faith

Each night after tucking Paxson into his bed, we read a story or two from his children's bible. His teachers at school read from the same bible each day, so he usually likes for me to read the story they read in school and the one or two after it.   

Tonight he asked me to read about "The Last Dinner".  I said, "Paxson, it wasn't the last dinner, it was something else".  He said, "Oh, well then please read The Last Breakfast!" :)  I read the story of The Last Supper to him and then he wanted me to read the next story.  I read to him about the story of the crucifixion. After reading it, he pointed out the two men who were on their crosses next to Jesus.  He asked me why they were there and what they had done.  It gave me a chance to tell him about the one man who decided to believe in Jesus and then was forgiven for his sins and would spend eternity in heaven with God.  We also talked about the man who didn't make that same choice. 

After reading this, we read about the resurrection.  After it was over, Paxson looked at me and very seriously said, "Mama, I believe all of the stories in the bible, and I believe that Jesus died on the cross so I can have forgiveness when I do bad things.  But Mama, do you think the people who wrote the bible made-up the story about Jesus coming back after he died?" He went on to say, "You've always said that when someone die, they won't come back to Earth and when Val (our new fish) dies, he won't come back either. 

Gulp...what a deep question from our 5 1/2 year old.  I said a really quick prayer and hoped that I would say the right thing.  I went on to explain that the Bible is God's word, and that as Christians we believe in all of it, not just parts of it.  I told him that when people or animals die, we don't come back to life, but that is what made/makes Jesus so special.  I also threw out the concept of Faith...that some of what we read in the bible may hard to comprehend, but because of our faith, we can believe in all of the bible with our whole hearts.   His little voice replied, "Well, I guess that's why Jesus is God's son, because they are like the two most important people ever, and that's why He could do that and we can't". 

Whew...for a second there I thought, oh gracious, I don't want my little boy to be some little skeptical and philosophical ....isn't he too young for that?  This conversation was a reminder to me as a Mama to not only pray for my children each day, but I should also pray for wisdom for myself, so that I can continue to answer questions like these!