*Written 9/5/12
This post is to commemorate your (Jack's) decision to follow our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I have waited a couple of weeks to begin writing to allow myself to process this event as well as give you time to demonstrate excitement and talk with us about it.
The official day that we will celebrate is Sunday, August 12, 2012, however I am fairly certain that you made this decision a while before this. For many months, you and I would talk in the car about many of the elements of the gospel, good versus evil, various Bible stories, the meaning of Bible songs, etc. And many times our conversation would end with me explaining to you that each person has a choice to make whether or not they will follow Jesus and that one day you could make that choice. Every time you would respond with, "Mommy, I have already made that choice. I love Jesus and I already chose to follow him (or believe in Him, or love Him, or asked Him for forgiveness)." I brushed each conversation off making excuses such as "He is too young" or "He doesn't understand everything" or "Kurt needs to be present", etc.
Around the end of July we participated in the Pine Cove camp at our church by taking a neighbor boy each day and picking him up. We listened to the Jesus Storybook Bible each day and our neighbor expressed a desire to know more about God. This sparked a lengthy conversation between your dad and I about you and your faith. In the end we decided to very casually bring up the topic and very casually ask you some questions. And (very casually!) Jack was able to articulate the gospel and his desire to be in God's family. We celebrate with you and talked about how we would now get to spend eternity together!
The following Tuesday, we went out for ice cream and then had a dance party, followed by a movie-theater day. These were all your choices of how you wanted to celebrate!
On that Friday we had a celebration at the pool with Cayden and Brinley and you had a blast! You chose to serve Santa's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert. That evening, we went the whole foods to eat at the cafe and buy vanilla almond butter, a much anticipated treat. We then went to get more ice cream (strawberry with gummy bears on top), followed by another dance party at home before bed! I really had no idea our celebration was going to last all evening, but you kept asking for the celebrate not to be over. How could I resist!?
I began recording a few things following your salvation just to savior the experiences. Here are a few sweet memories:
On Saturday, you disappeared into your room in the morning and came out with the full armor or God donned! You said, "I like to wear it in the morning because I believe in God!"
That same day, my swimming suit broke and you told me, "Don't be sad, God is with you and He loves you. He will give you a new one."
One night before dinner you started complaining by saying, "Are we having anything I don't like?" I told you that you might consider saying, "Thank you mommy for making dinner!".
The next night before dinner you said, "Are we having.....Mommy, thank you for making dinner!".
I have noticed a change in your obedience in that you respond with "Ok mommy/daddy" a lot for often when we ask you to do something.
Yesterday you spontaneously drew me a picture of the Holy Spirit and then asked if He was a person. You then drew a face on Him! You also drew a picture of the Trinity and of a heart. When I asked you why you drew a heart you said, "Because Jesus died for our sins and we believe it with our heart. And He loves us."
Last night when I put you to bed, I told you that you would be in trouble if you came out of your room to ask silly questions. After about 10 minutes you came out and quietly asked, "What happens to fire when it blows out?". I told you that I would not answer your question and that you needed to go back to bed. You responded very adamantly, "But it wasn't a silly question! I have to know what happens to fire!". I suppose in your head it wasn't silly since we had just sung This Little Light of Mine. Obviously this is really related to your salvation story, but I had to include it!
Drawings drawn independently and dictated by Jack:
1: Brown=sin, blue=Jesus washing away our sins, yellow=satan because he make the "sinness" and "the death"
2: Color "goldenrod" chosen to draw the picture of Heaven
3: Gabriel with stripes on his wings in Heaven
4: The Holy Spirit with a face since He is a person
5. A tree singing for joy in Heaven (originally yellow)
5. A tree singing for joy in Heaven (originally yellow)
