Tonight I found myself talking with my oldest son in our kitchen about the reality of the Kingdom of God. I want him to understand at an early age how big God's Kingdom is and how he gets to participate in God's work wherever God is present. So here I was talking with a little boy about this huge idea that many brillant theologians, let alone me, have a difficult time explaining in a clear and brief explanation. In fact, Jesus only tells stories about the Kingdom because it is so hard to explain and understand. Stories help illustrate the beautiful mess that the Kingdom is.
I tried to explain how big God's Kingdom is by raising my arms as high as I could and said, "The Kingdom of God is bigger than Daddy." I didn't see it click in his eyes, so I pointed at our house (or the walls of our kitchen) and raised my voice (slightly) and said, "It's bigger than our house!" Again, I didn't see it click so I stretched my arms out as far as I could stretch, raised my voice again and said, "It's bigger than Legoland!!" By the way, he had just gone to his favorite place on earth (atleast for the moment). His eyes got real big and he had a huge smile on his face like he understood.
May we be people that learn to communicate the Kingdom of God through story...our story, God's story and even stories that little boys can understand.
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ooo Josh I love this! I have written a whole lesson set in the curriculum I've written for Sunday School on Sermon on the Mount...when my teachers at the former chruch got the set on the beatitudes they began to bicker as to whether it was "possible" to teach them to kids. One of the lessons was a photography lesson where the kids were to pick a beattitude they found struck their heart and act out...pose...and take a photo. What I loved is there was EVIDENCE that kids CAN "get it" and that we shouldn't keep them from this "kingdom" and I think there was a guy...Jesus...who agreed with us. :) ANother thing I've done wiht kids to illustrate mustard seed is to plant bulbs randomly in the ground around the church and say "we know they are there but for a long time ...only we will....then they will show their beauty in the right time...sometimes the kingdom is under the surface...and then it is evident...and pops up all over.
Hope you're well! Hooray on hiring my friend Billy Jack! Very cool.
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