On Friday I got to watch B for a while and then take him to school. While we were at his house he showed me lots of his toys, his bible memory verses from AWANA, and we ate lunch. He is 5 and super sharp, and we had some great conversations. I wrote them down shortly after because I wanted to remember them!

As we were sitting at the table playing with some magnetic toys, he was telling me about the different people at his school.

"There's this boy as my school, his name is Riley. He's my friend, and we run away from the girls on the playground."

"Well how fun to have a friend you get to play with!"

"Yeah. There's this girl Sarah - she's mean to me."

"Oh, that's too bad. How is she mean to you?"

Making a 3D box out of magnets..."Well, she yells at me a lot, and she yells in my ear."

"Well that's not very nice."

"Yeah."

I thought, Hmm, I know this is a great teaching opportunity! Lord, what do I say?

"Hey buddy, did you know that people were also really mean to Jesus?"

"No."

"Yeah. People yelled at Him, and made fun of Him."

Pulling a magnet snake across the table..."Why did they do that?"

"Because He wanted them all to know that He was God, but they didn't believe Him. Do you know how He responded to them?"

"He tried to annoy them."

"Nope...He LOVED them! And He was KIND to them!"

"Well why did He do that?"

"Because He is God! And He never sins. He is perfect all of the time, and He is always loving to people."

"I don't think I could do that all the time."

Sweet! He totally gets it! He's so smart. "You are so right! I can't either. No person can. Do you remember what Romans 6:23 says?"

"Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

"Great job! So, 'wages' are things that we earn, and because of our sin, we earn death. Death is separation from God forever."

"How long is forever?"

"It doesn't have an end...when you think it's going to end, it just keeps going and going and never ending, ever. ... Hey buddy, can you say your John 3:16 verse for me?"

"John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life."

"Great! So, why did God send Jesus to us?"

"I don't know."

"Because of our sin! Jesus was born, and was a boy, just like you are, and grew up into a man just like Mr. Padilla, and all His life, He never sinned! Do you know why He never sinned?"

"Because He's God."

"Right! And when He grew up, He was killed. He died for us, in our place!"

"Well why?"

"Because He loves us! Even though we are sinners, He loves us. Remember from John 3:16? It says that because God loved us, He sent us Jesus to die for us so that God could forgive us. And if we believe that He died and can forgive us, then He says He'll give us eternal life - life that lasts forever instead of death that lasts forever.

"Huh."

...So that was that, and I'm so thankful for that conversation! It was kind of choppy and pretty tough coming up with ways to explain things to a 5 year old, but I know God can still use it in his little heart, and I pray that He does!

A while later we were putting on his shoes so he could get to school and he started crying because he wanted to wear a different pair.

"Well what's wrong with these shoes, buddy? I like them!"

"Everyone says they're not good, and that I can't run fast in them."

"Oh. So you want to wear these shoes because you think you can run faster in them."

"Yeah, and everyone says those ones aren't good."

"OK, buddy, well you can just ask me to wear this pair, you don't need to cry, OK?"

"OK."

We tried putting the 'good' ones on, but they were way too small.

"Oh, buddy, these are too small! That's why you can't wear them."

More tears..."But everyone makes fun of those ones!"

Oh, Lord! Another teaching opportunity! Help!

I pulled him onto my lap..."Oh, buddy, I know how you feel! You don't want to wear these shoes because people might make fun of them and say that they're not good shoes, and that you can't run fast on the playground."

Huge tears falling onto my jeans..."Yeah."

Lord, what do I say?

"Well, God says that people look at what is on the outside - your classmates look at you and they see what is on the outside of your body: you shoes, your jeans, your shirt, your hair; but God sees what is inside of you - what is in your heart, what you think, how you treat people. So your classmates see whats on the outside of your body and will say what they want to say about it, but you can be like Jesus and be kind, because God sees what's on your inside, and it matters more what God sees than what people see."

"Ok, I don't want to get a red mark for being late. Can we go now?"

(haha) "Sure, buddy." And we happily put on the 'not good' ones and headed out.

So I don't know if that one affected him either, but I know I got to talk about my God to him and the He'll do what He wants to with it. It was awesome to see God helping me through the conversations, and I'm thankful for the practice!