For my big bub

Dear Malachi,

Today you and I had a talk.  About life and death, and about Jesus.  My one greatest hope as a mom is that my children grow to love God and want to serve Him,  and I wanted to write this so that maybe someday you could look back and see how even at 3 years old, God was tugging at your heart.  So here you go...

       It started when I was folding laundry and you were using my massive pile of clean clothes as your hideout.  In the pile was a quilt that was given to me in memory of my Grandpa Koch.  I told you about him...

"Hey Bub, this quilt was from my Grandpa Koch.  You never got to meet him, he died when I was young, but you would have loved him."

Malachi: "He died?" (tearing up) "Why did he die?"

"He was very old, and had gotten sick so he died.  But he knew Jesus so he went to Heaven!" 

"He's in Heaven??  Heaven is up there (motioning up), and the Devil is down there (motioning down)?"

"Yep, he had Jesus in his heart so when he died he went to Heaven."
                    
"Well how do you die?"

"Your heart stops working."
                               
"Your heart stops working!?  But how does it do that!?"

"Well our bodies aren't perfect, they can get worn out and very old and stop working."

Malachi is tearing up again, "But I don't want to die!  I want to stay home, this is where I'm happy!"

"Oh sweetie I'm glad you're happy here, but Heaven is WAY better than home!  The Bible says that Jesus is preparing a mansion for us in Heaven - do you know what a mansion is?"

"No!"

"It's a house bigger than you could EVER imagine!  And nicer than you could ever imagine too!  Jesus has a place for His children to come and be with Him forever!"

"Forever?  But what will we do when it gets dark?"

"It won't get dark - ever!  In Heaven there isn't day or night, and you know what?  There's also no pain, no hurting, no crying EVER!"

"Ever!?  You mean no aches in my legs??"

"Nope, no aches in your legs!  And if you were to bump your head it wouldn't even hurt!"

"Well what if we get thirsty?"

"Um, I don't think we'll ever be thirsty or hungry bub - our new bodies won't ever feel hunger!"

"Well will there be stories in Heaven?  Like the stories in my Bible??"

"You know what bub? God IS the Bible!  So when we're in Heaven we won't have to read the Bible because we'll be with God!  So He can tell us stories!"

"Wow!  Will our new bodies be small??"

(laughing) "Well bub I don't actually know, the Bible isn't completely clear on what our new bodies will look like."

"Well I'll go get your Bible so we can find out!!" (runs and gets it and comes back)

"Sorry hon it doesn't say exactly what our new bodies are going to look like, just that they'll be perfect and work perfectly!"

"Well Mommy are you going to be in Heaven with me?"

"Yes bub, I'm going to Heaven when I die.  Do you know why?"
          
"No!"

"I'm going to Heaven because I believe in God and that Jesus died for my sins.  And I've asked Him into my heart!"

"Mommy will you help me ask Him into MY heart?"

"Of course!"  (sitting down beside him on the still unfolded massive pile of laundry...) "All you have to do is pray, so just say what I say okay?"

(taking my hand in his) "Okay Mommy!"

(He repeats after me line by line) "Dear Jesus, please come into my heart.  Forgive me of my sins and help me to live the way You want me to. Amen"

(Thinking for a second...) "So how do you go to the Devil?"

"Well bub, when someone doesn't believe in God, when they die that's where they go.  And it's AWFUL there.  It's dark all the time, it is extremely hot, everyone is crying and weeping - it's horrible.  That's why it's so important that we tell other people about Jesus so that they can be in Heaven with us too!"

(Opening my Bible to the maps in the back) "Look Mommy!  Heaven is right HERE!" (pointing somewhere near Israel)

(laughing) "Oh really?"

"Yep!  Will you read to me about David and Goliath?"

"Sure sweetie:)"  (so I take a seat next to him and read his favorite Bible story).

....

Bub you asked even more questions than that but that's the best I can remember.  You have such a sincere heart, and you are constantly trying to learn and understand.  You talked about death with tears in your eyes and you couldn't imagine anything better than being home with your mommy and daddy.  I pray that through your sweet, sincere words that Jesus has taken root in your heart and will mold you and shape you to be an amazing man of God.  And no matter how many questions you ask, or how many times you want to pray, I will always do my best to answer them and will always pray with you.  Love you bub.