Maddie: Daddy, why doesn't God just talk out loud to us?
Me: That's a really great question, Maddie. Your mother is going into the grocery store and she'll be happy to answer that when she gets back:-)
Angie (My wife): Ohhhhh no...your daddy will answer you while I'm in the store.
PAUSE: [This what I saw--Blank stares from my two girls wondering what Mommy and Daddy are doing---slight smirk from my son, because he is learning to pick up on my sarcasm--and appreciate it and even replicate it!]
Me: Well, Maddie. I'm not 100% sure why God doesn't talk out loud to us. Maybe he knows that we are so distracted by other stuff that we wouldn't listen, or maybe he knows that he doesn't have to because he we have his words written down, in the Bible.
Summary: I spent a few minutes explaining that prayer is us talking to God, and the Bible is God talking to us. I talked a little bit about the importance of believing in God even when we couldn't physically see or audibly hear. It was a great sermon, mostly because it was short, and no one fell asleep!
Maddie was still thinking and concluded out loud, "Yeah, but it would still be easier if He just said stuff out loud." I just agreed!
Angie got back in and as we started down the road, we saw an incredible ra
inbow. In fact it was a double rainbow. Literally breath taking. So, seizing my "divine moment", I said to Maddie:Me: See Maddie, that rainbow is God talking to us.
(Then I explained the whole story of the rainbow and God's promise to humanity. I had a pretty captive audience)...it was a pretty cool moment with the family. They really seemed to be "getting it." Then just when I began to privately gloat I heard...
Maddie: I can't hear anything, what is he saying in the rainbow?
**Angie and I laughed about it a little bit, but we love to have conversations with our children about God, their Heavenly Father. We want them to know how much He loves them. The coolest part of this happened the following day. The girls teacher came to Angie and said that they had told the entire story of the rainbow to the teachers and "all that would listen."
Maddie might not know exactly what the rainbow "said", but she now knows and believes that it was God talking! And it didn't stop there. She told everyone she could. WOW! Parents, no one influences your children's view of God like you. Let's shape the next generation starting in our homes! That's what our current series "Parental Guidance Required" is all about! Listen Here.
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