Dear Connor,You are having a special weekend with Aunt Christi and Uncle Will. My house was the hand-off place (a treat for me because I got to see you all!).
Uncle Will and Aunt Christi have been looking for special things to do with you during your big-boy weekend...and one of your activities will be a trip to a tiger reserve. Grrrrrrrrr....
In order for you to go, your Mommy had to sign a permission slip and she jokingly said, "Is this in case Connor gets eaten up by a tiger?" Knowing how protective we ALL are, we all laughed.
Then you said, "Eaten by a tiger? Yay! That would mean that I would go to heaven and get to be close to God."
Of course, I can hardly stand the idea of your playing football (your current desire) or being stung by a bee...much less be eaten by a bear...much less your going to heaven.
While I was catching my breath, I was grateful for your pure heart: going to heaven? Yay! that just means being able to be close to God.
I would like to freeze-dry that profound child's trust.
It tells me that you have been paying attention to one of the church's richest contributions to life: no fear of death. My own parents taught me all my life not to be afraid of death and that is a great, great gift. This faith is one of the unique gifts the church can give and, when we are honest, people of all ages in this dangerous world need this precious, grounding, abiding confidence.
You had better not get eaten by a tiger tomorrow. But for all your tomorrows, I hope you maintain the deep truth that you accessed so easily as we were playfully bantering about your adventure.
Yes, going to heaven is -- as you said--a good thing. It "just means being able to be close to God." I hope that trust can be freeze-dried and cemented in your heart forever.
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