Kids Say The Most Spiritually Profound Things

Sometimes I think I should carry around a notebook to jot down all of the crazy things my four year old says. Sometimes he sounds like Confucius, other times he just sounds confused. But it's almost always hilarious. Here's a few samplings:

"I'm going to go scare some people with my awesome shoes."

Playing with a play-doh ice cream set-
"Mommy, I just made you a sunny day with squirrel ice cream."

"Boys go to karate, girls go to ballet."

"I'm Thomas. Hop on board my freight cars. Oh wait, you're a passenger. You need to ride on Annie or Clarabelle."

"Somebody needs to give Daddy money so he can buy a truck."

"Daddies go to work and Mommies work on computers."

Passing by a lake-
Aidan: "I bet that river has sharks in it."
Me: "It's not a river. It's a lake. Rivers don't have sharks in them anyway."
Aidan: "It's a river. A big huge river. And it has sharks."
Me: "It's a lake."
Aidan: "That river is freaking me out."

Trevor: "Aidan, what day is it?"
Aidan: "Um,forty-six."
Trevor: "Not quite."
Aidan: "Oh. Three o'clock?"

Aidan retelling the story of Jesus walking on the water:
Aidan: "There were guys in a boat and there was a ghost walking on the water!"
Me: "Wasn't it Jesus and they thought it was a ghost?"
Aidan: "Jesus and a ghost were walking on the water."

Aidan retelling the story of Daniel:
"Some lions ate a guy."

Glad to know he's listening in Sunday School.

Every once in a while Aidan has a gem that rings true in my soul. This actually happened a couple of days ago. During the summer Aidan was involved in the Library's summer reading program. One of the weekly prizes he earned was a pair of cheap sunglasses. They are yellow with little fish all over them.

"These are my swimming glasses." He told me. "They have fish on them, and fish swim. So I should wear them when I swim."

"Actually," I answered, "They're sunglasses. You can wear them anytime. Even if you're not swimming."

Aidan's quite smitten with his grab bag sunglasses. He loves to wear them. Honestly, I think they're pretty cool, too. A couple of days ago he was wearing them in the house. He wanted to test their usefulness, so he threw the curtains open and stared fully at the sun.

"Mommy!" He yelled over at me, "These aren't working. I can still see the sun."

"Well, they're not supposed to make the sun disappear." I said. "They're supposed to protect your eyes from the sun. You can still see the sun, but it's not as bright and doesn't hurt your eyes."

As a pastor, I get asked "the question" about suffering quite often. "Why do we suffer? Doesn't God love us? Why doesn't he save us from our suffering?" Honestly, I don't always know quite how to answer it.

Now some people like to think their problems are equivalent to that of Job when their biggest dilemma is usually something like losing their favorite hair clip or Starbucks running out of Pumpkin Spice Scones (which are delicious, by the way). They had to settle for the gluten-free organic brownie (Speaking from experience, don't even waste your time). I'll let them know in short order that sometimes you just have to suffer for Jesus. Not really. But it would be funny.

But I do know people who have really been suffering. How do I find ways to encourage them without sounding like I'm trivializing what they're going through? How do we deal with suffering? First, I think it takes a change of perspective.

The church today has shifted towards a message of suffering=sin. If you're sick, if you're broke, if things are going wrong, you must not have your act together. God rewards those who are faithful to Him, so if you're suffering you must not have been proven faithful. We expect to receive an earthly reward instead of storing up our treasures in Heaven. Those who will admit they're suffering receive a sentence of awkward conversations and slow excommunication through accidental exclusion (we wouldn't want to be too obvious, would we?) from the body of believers. We need successful, happy people in our church so other people will want to come here.

We've turned God into our wish-granting genie instead of the powerful, sovereign God He is. I'm afraid that sometimes we paint Christianity as a religious joy ride instead of the sometimes difficult spiritual journey it really is.

When trouble comes, we're like my four year old with his sunglasses. He was expecting them to completely block out the sun, when that wasn't their purpose at all. "Isn't God supposed to take this trouble from my life? I thought he was supposed to bless me and heal me and take away my suffering and pain." But that's not really what God has in mind at all. We are expecting Him to block out the sin and pain and grief of living in this world, but God is offering us his protection to walk through it.

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare of the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I am trusting him.
For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from the fatal plague.
He will shield you with his wings. He will shelter you with his feathers. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor fear the dangers of the day,
nor dread the plague that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you.
But you will see it with your eyes; you will see how the wicked are punished.
If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter,
no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your dwelling.
For he orders his angels to protect you wherever you go.
They will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot on a stone.
Psalm 91:1-12

God is offering his protection. He's saying "Everyone may be falling around you. You may feel surrounded and overwhelmed. But I will never leave you. I will surround you with my protection." We need to commit ourselves to Him. Our faithful Creator. He will wrap his arms of protection around us when we need it the most.