Brandon slinks into the kitchen letting his backpack fall with a thump!
“Hey,” Margary leaves the dishes, wipes her hands and walks toward her seven-year-old. “Are you tired?”
Brandon lifts his head scrunching his face up. Margary waits patiently recognizing his ‘processing’ face.
“My body isn’t tired,” he strikes a super hero pose: hands on hips, feet wide apart, head erect.
“But…” he climbs onto a counter stool, crosses his arms and rests his head letting out a sigh.
Uh oh. Is he being being bullied? What should she say? Before she crafts a plan Brandon speaks up.
“My soul is,” he sighs as tears fill his eyes.
“Baby,” Margary sits down pulling him to her, “tell Mom what’s troubling you.”
After a couple of deep sighs he asks, “How come we only got one God?”
“Because there is only one God,” she squeezes him relieved he’s not being bullied.
“Nuh uh,” he pulls back, jumps down and opens his backpack. Next he hands her a colouring page filled with greek gods, goddesses and magical creatures.
“I see,” she replies as she surveys the numerous characters. “But honey, they aren’t real.”
“How do you know?” Brandon scurries back to his stool and reaches for one of the afterschool cookies sitting in their usual place.
“Do people still pray to these gods? Are there temples today, all over the world, dedicated to their worship?”
Her young son stares at her with chocolate smeared on his lips. He shrugs his shoulders and continues munching.
“Okay,” Margary gets up, “let’s find out.”
She retrieves the laptop from her desk and brings it back to the counter.
After typing into the search bar and selecting a webpage she turns it toward her young son.
‘Well,” she points to a web page, “Some people still worship them but not very many. And only in a few countries.”
“So they are real?” Brandon slurps a gulp of milk.
“No, honey,” Margery prays silently for wisdom before proceeding.
She types again and lands on her favourite Bible website.
“Do you remember the story of Paul?”
“Uh…was he mean to Christians then Jesus blinded him and he turned good?”
“Yes! And then he traveled all over teaching people about Jesus and how only through Him we can be forgiven of our sins and go to heaven.”
Margary waits for the munching and slurping to slow down.
“Can I tell you a story of one of his travels?”
Brandon’s eyes light up as he nods.
Margary holds up the pictures of the Greek gods. “See this?”
Brandon nods again. “Well Paul saw all of them in the city of Athens. Do you know where Athens is?”
Her son wipes crumbs off his face with his sleeve and shakes his head.
“In Greece.” His eyes widen, “He saw the greek gods?” Margary chuckles. “He saw their statues and temples.”
“Oh!” “And he saw a sign that said, ‘To the Unknown God’.”
“Huh?” “Exactly,” Margary tossles his mop of hair. He squirms and giggles.
“So Paul decided to tell them about the ‘Unknown God’ they were worshipping.”
“What did he say?” “Acts 17: 22-25, ‘Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about. He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.’ “ Margary closes the laptop and scoops Brandon back in her arms.
“In other words Brandon, our God created everything. There is no other god. He has no equal. All other gods are created by man and carved out of wood or stone, or fashioned out of gold or silver. They aren’t real. They have no power.”
Brandon smiles up at his mom. “Do you understand, honey?”
“Yup,” he beams. “No one equals our God. He’s the one and only creator!”
Margary kisses the top of his head before he scoots off.
'Where are you going?' “To draw the Unknown God on my page. Everyone needs to know He’s the only true God!”