fish and faith

When I was a little kid I thought that when you turned down the volume on the radio you were twisting a stick into the mouth of the man speaking inside it and that compelled him to talk quieter. I thought that if you got pulled over by the police for speeding that you could and maybe should have your car taken away right then and there. Once when my grandparents were visiting we were planning on going fishing and having a picnic after. I had what I believed was the greatest idea in the world. We would catch a fish and then eat it for lunch. My grandma said we had better pack sandwiches too. She was right.
My young mind like many young minds had no grey areas. Things were either right or wrong. In addition to this perhaps from my upbringing I believed that the best could happen and things would always work out and fall into place. God would provide a nice trout.
When Jesus told us that we need to become like little children I think that he meant this trusting young heart that believed that everything was okay. Now when my prayers for a real fire engine were never answered my faith did not crumble. And when I prayed for a local man to live and he died I knew that he was up in heaven so that was good too. When we get older and more worldly and educated we begin to create our own worlds and along with them our own ideas about how God ought to be. Cheerful agnostics believe the universe is innocent until proven guilty and what ever is true for you is cool. At least atheists solidly believe in something albeit a lie. And then some professed Christians build their own god and their own way to heaven. Maybe they do this for fear of others reactions or maybe they just want to feel good themselves.
But the fact is that Jesus said that he is the only way right there in John 14:6. If you want to question the validity of The Bible then why accept any of it?
As children we would have accepted it. We wouldn’t have had room for grey areas or idolatry. We would have accepted God’s love without question.
Whether or not we would have followed God’s commands is another thing. Children are selfish. That’s why we need shepherding. For this I thank God for the parents and youth and children’s pastors that I know.
This is the blog that came to me on this first day of the year. It is not a whimsical telling of a childhood story. It’s a bit confrontational. I don’t resolve to be more like this or not. But this is the core and the worldview of everything I write.