An Eventful Good Friday

Our church had a Good Friday service this evening.  When we found out there was only childcare for birth through Kindergarten, we decided to bring Jacob with us.  I was looking forward to bringing him though.  I think it's really important to show him the true meaning of Easter and the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made for us.  Jacob is getting to that age where he's asking a lot of questions and his brain is getting sophisticated enough to understand.

The service started with a courtroom where the audience was on trial for our sin.  The plaintiff was God and the defendant was mankind.  In the middle of this court procession, Jacob lost his tooth!  He shouted out, "Daddy, Mommy!  LOOK!"  That broke the silence in the room for sure.  Thank goodness it must have been really ready because it didn't bleed at all.  I thought it was funny that his babysitter, halfway across the room, heard his little voice and knew it was Jacob.  Unsurprisingly, a lot of other people noticed too and congratulated him afterward.  :) 

Then they brought out a giant cross to the stage.  We had slips of paper to write the evidence of sin we were being accused for in court.  After we privately wrote down what we were struggling with, we walked up to nail it to the cross.  Adam asked Jacob if he wanted to write something too.  He immediately said yes.  I thought I might need to help him think of something... but after a few seconds, he wrote something down all by himself.   When I read it my heart melted.  Misspellings and all, I had no doubt it would melt God's heart as well.  He bravely held my hand and we nailed it to the cross.  Later that evening, one lady sitting behind us told us that she had been watching Jacob... and that to her, it was the most touching part of the entire service.

Afterward, I wrapped my arms around Jacob and we sung songs to God.  He watched his Daddy raise his hands in worship.   He watched everyone pray together.  He watched us take communion and had LOTS of questions about that.  We told him that right now, he is going to church with mommy and daddy.  But one day, he will make the decision to believe in God all on his own.  One day, he will ask Jesus to live in his heart forever and ever.  One day, he will take communion with us.  One day, he will be baptized.  And hopefully one day, he will even teach his own children about God.

When we were filling out some adoption paperwork recently, we were asked to write down the goals we had for our kids.   It's interesting that every business, church, and school seems to have well-thought out mission statements and goals.  It made me think, how much more important is it for parents to have goals for their children?  Anyway, it was good to think about.  As many hopes, dreams, and goals we have for our three boys (and little girl!), the first is for them to have unwavering faith in God.  That above everything, because in the end, that is all that matters.