Jesus Is The Rock

Yesterday, I took all three girls for a scooter ride/walk around campus. When they got tired of scootering, we tucked the scooters into the bottom of the stroller and continued by foot. As we were walking, Emma and Ruthie spied one of the huge boulders on the lawn at Wabash. They climbed and jumped and climbed and jumped to their hearts' content. Afterwards, we started walking towards home and Ruthie said, "Mommy, Jesus is a rock, right?" Emma responded, with an air of superiority, "No, Ruthie, Jesus is THE rock." She was right, but I asked her, "Why do we call Jesus "the rock", Emma?" She thought about it and then said, "I don't know," which gave Ruthie some satisfaction that her older sister still didn't know everything. Happy, Ruthie skipped ahead to explore the path while Emma and I continued to talk.

I asked her if she had ever heard of the story Jesus taught about the wise builder and the foolish builder. She proceeded to tell me what she knew of the story, "The wise man built his house on a rock and the waves came and his house stood still. The foolish man built his house on sand and the waves crashed it down." (My heart swelled with pride at this point!) I went on to explain that Jesus was using this story as an example or a picture of what we are supposed to do with Him. We can either build our lives on Him or build our lives on something else, but Jesus is the only thing that will stand up to the waves and keep us safe.

She thought about that for a moment and was very quiet. We walked along listening to Ruthie giggling over pine cones and pebbles. Then, Emma asked, "How do we build our lives on Jesus because I for sure don't want to get crashed down by those waves?" Oh my goodness, she really just asked me this BIG question, Lord. Help me to tell her in a way that she can understand.

I explained to her that Jesus is also called "The Word" and that learning the Bible was a great way to build on Jesus. We also talked about prayer and that talking to Jesus about everything was another good way to build on Him. As we were nearing home, we started making a list of things she can do to build her life on Jesus, the Rock:

Listen to the Bible stories Mommy and Daddy read to her.
Memorize Bible verses.
Talk to Jesus every night.
Tell the kids in Dennis and Carols' orphanage that Jesus loves them.
Try really hard to always obey.
Ask God to help me to always obey.

I love it. I mean, she's only five years old and she wants to know how to build her life on Christ. I'm merely her earthly parent and I'm swooning over how tender her heart is to the Lord. I can only imagine how God is feeling about all this! And to think, when I ask God how I can build my own life on Jesus, His heart swells, too. He gets even more excited than I did! He sees me the way I see Emma--tender, innocent, open to the Lord. In fact, He sees anyone who earnestly seeks Him that way.

It was a blessed moment, one that I will not soon forget.

Thank You, Father God, for my little Emma. Thank You for letting me see the ways in which You are drawing her and calling her even now. Thank You for walking and talking with us yesterday. Thank You for showing us how we can build our lives on Jesus, The Rock. Help me to minister to Emma. Help me to be a godly example for her. Help me. I love You and I praise You. Amen