The Wading Pool

Mondays are my day off, which simply means that my kids have a built-in alarm clock that says “Dad’s home today!” and subsequently wakes them  (and me) up about 6:00 a.m.  Tomorrow?  They’ll be out until 9:00, but that’s another story.

Anyway, today, we were hanging out together, laughing at my eldest making her siblings “disappear” through the wonders of blankets and piano benches (also another story), when the doorbell rang.  As soon as I opened it, I knew what I was faced with.

Several years ago, I lamented that I was never home when the door-to-door religious groups would come by (my wife also lamented this fact).  Finally, the group from out West popped by, and I was on them like white on rice.  I threw out verse after verse, pretty much called them heretics, and basically assured I was off their visitation list for life.

Christ-like response?  Not quite.  Immediate conviction by the Holy Spirit?  You bet.  (The comment from my wife of “well, that was loving” also helped).  I was humbled.  Was what I said wrong? No.  Was how I said it?  Yes.

God made me understand that day that He sent His Son to die for those guys too; that when He said He gave His Son for the whole world, He meant it.  The sad thing was that the two dudes that believed the lie that day came off more loving than the pastor.  Ouch. And the saddest thing for me?  My oldest daughter was at my hip the whole time, hearing every word I said.

Flash-forward to today.  I opened the door with my daughter at my side, and came face to face with a nice young man with a big smile, who immediately told me he was there to share “words of encouragement in these hard times” and he grabbed a pamphlet to hand me.

So here I faced the same situation as before, so how was I going to respond?

Well, without boring you, I just talked to the guy for a few moments about the state of the world, how Jesus called these things “birth pangs” that would come before His return, and how Jesus is the only hope for this world.  (On a side note, God gave me a fresh reminder of this from my pastor yesterday…He’s good that way!)  The man was not confrontational at all, even after I told him I was a pastor.

We talked for a bit, and while I got excited (because I do when I start talking about Jesus), I don’t think I was belligerent (unlike with the boys from Salt Lake).  At least, I don’t think I was.  Finally, my boy finally broke up our theological discussion by throwing a fit, and I bid our visitor goodbye.

As I came back in the house, my wife informed me that my oldest had been listening, as she was the last time.  She wanted to know what that was all about, and I could tell she was a little confused why I was getting so excited.   So I started to share with her about it, about how that guy didn’t think Jesus was God, and how it was so important that we know the truth.

She just looked at me and said “But Jesus IS God!  They’re the same!”

Yes they are honey.   From the mouths of babes.  So we prayed for our visitor, that he would see the Truth, and the Truth would set him free.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1