Faith like a child...

I just wanted to share a story with you that makes me very proud to be a father!

Last Monday morning, Chloe woke up and came into the living room where I was having my quiet time. She sat on the love seat next to me and we chatted for a couple of minutes. She told me about her dream the night before (she was riding her horse up and down some huge hills. What a beautiful imagination!) Then she pointed to my Bible where I have the word "Freedom" written on it in huge letters. She asked what that word is (she's learning how to read, so she's very interested in big words but often asks what they are rather than trying to sound them out.) I told her what the word was, and she asked what it meant.

Hmmm... how do you explain the concept of freedom to a four year old? (Side note: the word is on my Bible referring to spiritual freedom, not political... just in case some of you were wondering about the mixed message.) I asked her if she knew what a slave was. She said, "Yeah, isn't that a bad person like a thief or a witch?" Not exactly sure where the correlation came from, but I did correct her. I explained that a slave isn't a bad person. I gave her a brief lesson on US History, and told her about how some mean people used to own slaves and made them do their chores for them because they were too lazy to do it themselves. But the difference was that they didn't get paid to do the work and many times they were treated very badly by their "owners". I explained to her that at one point all the slaves were let go from their owners and were able to live their own lives. They were set free, and free to live life for themselves. This is what freedom means.

I told her I had written the word on my Bible to remind me that because Jesus lives in my heart, I belong to God, but I am free to live the life that He wants me to live and that in the Bible I can find all the keys to living that life of freedom. I told her that people who don't belong to God belong to Satan and they are Satan's slaves. They are not free at all. They have no choice in how they live their lives because they do what Satan wants them to do. But if they ask Jesus to live in their heart, and they want to follow God, that they can belong to God and be free and live a very happy life that He wants them to live.

I asked her if she had ever asked Jesus to live in her heart so she could belong to Him. She simply said, "No." So I asked her if she wanted to. She said, "Yeah, but not right now. I will someday though." Gotta love her independent spirit! I told her that was just fine, and that if she ever wanted to Mommy or I could help her pray to ask Jesus into her heart. She said, "Okay" and ran off and that was that.

I sat there and thought about the moment for a while... I didn't want to scare her with the whole "turn or burn" theology, but I couldn't help but think that perhaps I hadn't made a convincing enough argument. Why wasn't she sold? I mean, I'm a born salesman, and I couldn't even "close" my own four year old daughter? I must be losing my touch.

Well, the next day when I came home from work, Cami and the kids were around me and we were playing around and Cami asked Chloe, "Isn't there something you want to tell Daddy?" Chloe looked at me and practically screamed, "I asked Jesus into my heart!" She was smiling so big and her face was shining so beautifully! I asked her, "Really? Did Mommy help you?" And she said, "No, Mommy was in the shower. You were at work, so I just sat on the floor behind the couch and prayed to God and asked Jesus to come live in my heart!"

I thought I knew what the joys of fatherhood were all about. But I realized that until today, I didn't have a clue. The image of her, sitting on the floor, behind the couch, all alone. The sound of the shower running in the background from the bathroom down the hall. And those words, whatever they were, the simple prayer with her hands folded and her eyes clinched shut. The most important prayer she will ever pray in her entire life. She did it on her own terms, at her own time and place and after she had taken the time to think it over. She wasn't impulsive, she wasn't pressured... and best of all, she wasn't sold. She believes. With faith like a child...