Where is God?

I’ve been teaching the boys’ Wednesday night Bible class for almost a year now. The kids’ ages range from about two to six, so when everyone is there, the levels at which information is processed is pretty broad.

Most of our lessons are of the classic stories and characters of the Bible, and the lessons they teach are kept pretty simple. However, several weeks ago, we started a unit on the life of Jesus, and I must say, it has caught the kids’ attention.

As a parent, I’ve strayed away from discussions about death and dying simply because I’ve wanted to shelter my boys from that concept. Biblically speaking, death is a reward, but to a three year old…not so much.

When our dog, Shelby, died last year, the boys were almost two and three. I didn’t have the heart or the wherewithal to explain to them the “cycle of life” at that point in theirs, so I simply told them that “She went away.” It seemed to suffice.
Just yesterday, the boys ran inside screaming that there was a dead bird in the yard “with ants and flies crawling all over it!” How a little time changes everything. I braced myself for the barrage of questions.

I know, it’s probably pathetic. Especially to those raised on a farm where it seems the process of life and death manifests itself more clearly and the knowledge of its importance is more essential. But I’m no farm girl. Just doing the best I know how for my boys.

It was after a lesson on Jesus’ death that the questions started rolling in. “Why did Jesus die?” “Where is he now?” “Where is God?”

These were all pretty simple to answer. It’s not the questions that I’m worried about, it’s their capability for understanding the implications of the answers. After all, it won’t take a thoughtful kid long to make the deduction “Jesus died. My dog died. What (Or who) is next?”

But here’s what I discovered: Just stick to the facts, and the facts will stick to the kids. I had a mom tell me last Sunday that her three year old daughter informed her quite nonchalantly that “Jesus came back from the dead”. It didn’t seem to matter how or even why. At least not yet.

During a sermon from the preacher on Jesus a few weeks ago, Brisco stood up and said (rather, yelled) into my ear that “Jesus died on a cross-walk”. Well, at least he’s trying.

I guess I’ve discovered that children can handle most any truth that we choose to give them. They have a way of taking it all in, deliberating the facts and assimilating it into it’s effect on their world.

Cooper is definitely our more pensive child. Maybe because he’s older, but he is quite interested in what Jesus is doing and when he can see him and “Why did God decide to ‘put out’ that ole Debil anyway?”

He deliberates ideas such as the location of heaven and just how high it is and what in the world could they be doing up there?

Brisco asked me a few days ago when we would be going to heaven. Like it was a venue on our summer vacation. Cooper was quizzing me a while back about something that I was evidently having a hard time explaining and I finally just said, “Cooper, you’re just gonna have to trust me on this.” To my surprise, he began singing “Trust and Obey”. (Cue the sappy, mommy smile.) Of course when I asked him if he knew what those words meant, he smiled and said, “Nope”.

I guess the hard questions are bound to start rolling in. I mean, how long can we be satisfied with topics of discussion about colors and letters and numbers. It’s the meat of life that makes it worth living, and there’s no hungrier subject than a child. They are little sponges waiting to absorb whatever we put in front of them.

“Where is God?”
“Well, Cooper, God is in heaven. But if you look around, you can see that He’s right here with us too.”

And that’s All in a day’s work!