January 9 – “Theology 101: Zakary”

Not to be outdone by his little brother, Zakary taught a lesson of his own.  He and Nani and DadDad were all playing on the ever-present air mattress.  It had become a raging sea, and he had his three toy boats along with each crew and an ocean critter or two swimming in the water.  One of the boats he has looks just like the Houston Pilot boat my Dad used to work on.  It was the deep sea fishing boat named the Cavalier that he and my Granddad operated before Dad sold it to the Pilots.  It looked so much like it that Mom commented, "PawPaw would have a fit if his boys could have had a boat like that to play with."  The ensuing conversation was interesting. Me: My Dad used to work on a boat like that one. Zak: You mean MY dad? Me: No.  Mine.  He died a long time ago, so you never met him. Zak: Was I in Mommy's tummy? Me: Yes. Zak: How did he do that?  How did he die? Me: His body just wore out, so he left it behind and went to be with Jesus. Zak: But that's a long way away. Me: Not when you die.  You go right to be with Jesus.  Snap!  Just like that.. A long silence followed, where you could almost see the wheel turning in his little head.  It was obvious we had gone above and beyond the call of theological duty for a three year old.  So Nani, in her great wisdom, pointed to a toy and said: "Is that a monkey?"   I was going to add a lot more about the birthday party itself, especially the "Piñata Incident."  And maybe a word about the drive home or how cold it actually got while we were there.  Maybe tomorrow.   Theology with a child should stand alone.  Especially when it's accompanied by fond memories of my Dad.   2 Corinthians 5:6-8 says, "Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight.. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord."   Father, I do miss my Dad.  Say hello to him for me, please?  Amen.