Warriors

A couple days ago Jonathan approached me in the kitchen. He came to me with a question about a photo on the cover of an issue of "World Magazine" we had sitting around. The photo was of a soldier whose leg had been so badly wounded in the war that it required a prosthetic replacement. Jonathan was intrigued by it, and his questions sparked an entire conversation that will alter the course of our family.

He and I (with Henry listening in) talked about soldiers, world war, etc, with his interest deepening by the second. At one point he asked me if soldiers die. "Yes", I replied, "Which is why we should always say 'Thank You' to soldiers when we see them. They are willing to die to protect us, and willing to fight so that OUR Daddy can be home with us." Then he asked me if the soldiers that die go to heaven. We talked through the connection between giving our lives to Jesus and going to heaven.

At this point Henry piped in that HE loved Jesus and HE wanted to go to heaven. "Yes! Awesome, Henny!", I replied. Then I encouraged him to find a cozy spot by himself, and tell God what he had told me. He immediately wandered off in to the living room by himself and tipped his head up, spread his arms out wide and shouted (in his giant, 3-yr-old voice), " I LOVE YOU, GOD!!!"

He sheepishly reentered the kitchen and informed me, "I did it, Mom" :)

"You know what, Henny? That makes YOU a soldier."
"What??"

I explained that just like how our country has enemies, God has an Enemy too. My boys know about angels (mostly that if they are scared at night they can pray "for Jesus to send angels to keep them safe"), and I explained that angels are part of God's army, and so are we.

I told them that the Enemy and his warriors wanted to keep us away from God, to keep us lonely, sad, and hurting. I told them that our battle is not "with flesh and blood":

Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

I explained to them that this means that we are not battling PEOPLE. That there's no swords, no killing, that we are not delivering death. 

((all the while their little eyes were widening with interest and you could almost see their little shoulders growing into this new role as REAL WARRIORS! :)     ))

We talked through what it means to battle to bring LIFE. I explained that it is our job to love people, and to show them Jesus. I warned them that the Enemy would try to stop us and that this battle would be hard.  "BUT JESUS WINS!!" Jonathan interrupted with full, masculine vigor!

Yes, He does, little boy :)  I reminded them that the Enemy wants to bring death, and that Jesus DID die, but came back to life and defeated the Enemy! I explained that while this battle will be hard, that we can fight confidently because we know Jesus has already won. I told them that Jesus has asked us to stay and finish the battle, finish loving people and telling them that Jesus wins!

"YAAAAAAAAH!!!" out burst their war-cries!

~

With that conversation, we have changed the trajectory of our family. We are, to the smallest member, choosing to leave behind a life of do-gooding, and enter the battlefield. We have decided that no matter the risk, we will not ignore the battle raging silently, spiritually around us. We have decided to train warriors for the King! 

~

Later that morning the kids and I were in the car and I had the radio on. Worship song, after worship song came on, many of which were songs that Josh has led our church in singing. My heart was still soaring from talking so intensely with my boys, but as I looked in the rear view mirror I nearly exploded with joy:

Both of my wiggly, intense little boys had their heads silently bowed and hands raised, enveloped in the song, "Your love never fails, it never gives up, never runs out on me..." 

~

Let's take this life seriously. Let's stop focusing so much on teaching our kids to sit up straight, potty train, pick up your toys, close your mouth when you chew, don't interrupt, inside voice please... Let's go even deeper and train them to live, and fight, in the spiritual world that is happening around us whether we are aware of it or not.

 If we are not FOR God, we are against Him... Let's be mindful that we don't let the Enemy snatch up our thoughts, our every-day mundane, our free time, our free money, our cares, our worries. Let's pour all our attention, energy, value and devotion into waging war for the sake of our King, Who we KNOW has already won!

 P.s. Here are the boys' "warrior" faces :)