Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Questions About Heaven

Wow. I wasn't prepared for this stage. Ollie has started asking lots of questions about heaven. And dying. After his friend died last February, we talked about how 'Cora is in heaven with Jesus'. And he got that. (Although he did once ask whether she walked to heaven or drove in a car...) But it was very basic.

This last week, Ollie has been asking more questions. Like, "Did Cora get big?" "Is she still little?" "Will I go to heaven?" "Is Lily gonna go to heaven when she's little?" Hmmmm...so I decided to introduce the word 'die'. I had to explain what that meant.
"Am I gonna die, Mommy?" Well, someday...when you're much bigger... (How do you answer that?) I tell him that when we die, if we know Jesus, we get to go to heaven and live with Him. More thinking..."I don't know Jesus. I don't want to go to heaven."
Today, before naptime, we had a long talk about this. How we know Jesus. This led into a talk about sin and how Jesus came to die for us--so we could know him. "I don't want to 'hin', mommy." Well, we ALL sin! But that's why Jesus died--because he loved us so much! I shared how God is making a special place for us. "Is it like a big house?" Yes, sort of... "Are you going to be there, Mommy?" Yes, I will. And so will Daddy. "Are there toys there?" Well....there's lots of amazing stuff!
Wow. How much he comprehends, I don't know. But he is full of questions!!! And I'm praying that he understands just how MUCH God loves him. And that heaven is a WONDERFUL place to be.

5 comments:

Rachel said...

Wow! What big questions. and what a big responsibility we have! Ellie has been asking those questions too. It just amazes me how much they ask and understand. I think it's hard to know how to explain some of the things, but I love seeing them wonder about Jesus and how to know him and be in heaven.

Utecht Family said...

Hannah has always asked difficult to answer questions about heaven (and sin and death, etc.) as well. I try to answer in a way that she will understand without putting her off or lying to her. Anyway, I recently heard that Randy Alcorn wrote a book for kids called "Tell Me About Heaven." I haven't read it yet, but I've been wanting to! (I have read "Heaven" by Alcorn - which was good.) I did hear that there is a cheesy (if not misleading?) certificate in the back of the book, though I suppose one could always cut that out. Anyway, I'll let you know if I get a chance to check it out and if it'd be helpful. Hope you are all feeling better! And sorry for the long reply! :-)

The Sieberts said...

Ava tells me too that she doesn't want to go to heaven because she associates that with not being around us anymore. its hard for their young minds to know that Heaven is a wonderful place. I have this really good book called 'The Prayer that makes God Smile' by Stormie Omartin. My mom bought it for Ava and it is SO good. It goes through the process of knowing Jesus and savlation in a 3-5 year old's version. So good-i recommend it. it even has a prayer at the end for a child to pray if they want to accept Christ!

Heather said...

Precious Precious Precious! Kids ask such good questions!! I will be praying for Ollie's little heart.

Heather

Chelsie said...

What a great post, Kendall. How awesome that he's so interested and that you get to have those conversations with him!