While driving the other day, Caleb asked me a jolting
question (translated from French):
“Papa, if a bad man came and killed me, would you go and
kill the bad man?”
Huh? Wow.
After recovering from my initial suprise, I thought to myself, “how do I communicate that 1) I
will do anything to protect my son, and, at the same time, 2) turn the question
toward God’s love and compassion for everyone… especially bad people. Okay,
point #1:
“If a bad person ever tried to do anything to you, call me
right away and I will run and tell them sternly to never touch my son. I will
do whatever it takes to protect you.”
“But,” he asked, “what if I was too far away for you to run
to me?”
“Call me on the phone and I’ll drive as fast as possible,
then tell the bad person not to touch you.”
“So if I had a cell phone in my back pack and a bad person
was there, I’d call you and you’d come to protect me?”
“Yes, I’d come really, really, fast. I’d also call other
people to come and protect you”. A confident and contented smile stretched from
ear to ear as I responded.
Time for point #2:
“You know that God loves everyone?” I asked.
“Yes, I know that.”
“That Christ died and rose again for everyone… even bad
people?”
“Yes”.
“Sometimes, when we tell a bad person how Jesus loves them,
they trust Jesus, and Jesus changes their heart so that they no longer do bad
things.”
“So, sometimes it’s a good idea to tell even bad people that
Jesus loves them?”
“That’s right”.
Our desire is that Caleb grows to be a man who is strong and
loves; a man strong enough and loving enough to simultaneously protect and show
compassion.
Not easy.
