Three Men and a Lady

On September 28th, in the van on the way to church, Parker became a Christian. He gave his tender heart to the Lord and now has a new best friend. Here is the conversation that took place as I was listening to "Friend of God" on the radio station and driving rather quickly as to not to be late for our 9:00 service.

"Mom, can God be my friend too like the song?"
"Of course. Do you want Jesus to be your friend and to be part of you life?"
"Yes I really do!"
"Okay, well, just ask Jesus to be your friend and tell him that you want him to come and be a part of your life"
(He asked that aloud and said 'Amen')
"Now, Parker, because Jesus is your friend it makes him happy to do what he did. He loves when we are kind, caring, and obedient."
"Do I have to die on the cross like Jesus did?"
"No, that's what makes Jesus such a good friend. He died for us."
"Where is Jesus now?"
"Well, he lives in your heart, but the Bible says that he is in Heaven too getting it ready for us."
"Where is Heaven?"
"It is somewhere we can't see, but Jesus is there so it is a great place."
"Oh does my daddy have Jesus in his heart?"
"Yes"


We went to church and he told several of the students that Jesus became his friend today.

Now, it all took a turn for the worse on the ride home from church. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw Parker with a very sad look on his face. His eyes were swelled with tears that had not yet fallen, and his head was hung low.

"Parker, what is the matter honey?"
"I don't want to go to heaaaaaaveeeeen" , by now he was hysterical.
"Why not? Heaven is going to be fantastic."
"Because I love my house and my baseball room and my pirate ship. And I want to sleep by my mommy and daddy and brother. I don't want to move there. I love everything and my toys."
"Heaven is the best because Jesus is there and when we are with him, we won't want or need anything else. And, the greatest part is that Mommy and Daddy and Kent love Jesus to0, so we'll be there together."
"Do they have apple juice there and suckers?" he asked, still sniffling.
"Heaven is filled with lots of good stuff."
"Can I pick the flavor sucker I want?"
"Sure". (I had no idea what to say to that. At this point, I just didn't want him to be scared of heaven, so I was willing to say it had just about anything...)
"Parker, when Jesus is your friend and when you live with him in heaven, you won't be missing out on anything."
"I think Jesus has pirate ships there...."
I told Parker that asking Jesus to be his friend was the greatest day of his life, so we celebrated with a Happy Meal from McDonald's. I figure we'll tackle the "pirate ship in heaven" issue later on. Who knows...there is a glassy sea after all, maybe there are pirate ships floating in it.

P.S. I still love my Cubbies..it's only one game. I have forgiven Ryan "Dumpster" and we will move on.