Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Maranatha!

Paul was gone from Thursday to Saturday last week at a Men's retreat.  (Same one he's been to previously.)  He was kind of heading up a group of 14 guys that left from our church.  It was a powerful weekend, with guys opening up and deciding to change their lives and homes.  So he was not only physically exhausted, from little sleep, but also emotionally spent.
As we were eating supper at a makeshift table in the living room (the house is a disaster area; the dining table completely buried), out of no where, Jacob started talking about asking Jesus to live in his heart.  That grabbed our attention.  We have talked to Jacob a lot about receiving Christ, as it comes up, and he knows all the facts:  he has sinned, Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, we have to ask Jesus to forgive us and accept His payment in order to go to Heaven.  He knew the facts, but he didn't want to do it.  We'd ask him the questions, and he knew all the answers - "Do you want to ask Jesus to forgive your sins?"
"No."
This had us kind of worried or upset.  People tend to say, "Oh he's just 3."  But what if he died?  He knew what he needed to do, but was rejecting it.  He's old enough to sin, know he's sinning, know he need to do something about it.... And not doing it.  Nathan was also concerned.  He sometimes would lay in bed and ask, "But Jacob hasn't asked Jesus into his heart.  Why hasn't Jake?  Can Jacob go to Heaven?"
So out of the blue Saturday night, he started talking about it.  Paul started asking the same questions.  Jacob gave clear answers.  So we got to the big question:  "Do you want to ask Jesus to forgive your sins and come into your heart?"
"Yes."
Paul and I prayed with him there, in the middle of the messy living room, in the middle of our meal.  I won't say Paul was sobbing, but he was definitely emotional.  I think the boys were like, Okay, Dad.....?
Paul has said recently he's not ready for Jesus to come back yet.  He has children who have not accepted Him.  You don't know how wrenching it is to think that the child you love so much here on earth may not be with you for eternity.  We are so incredibly happy to add Jacob to our eternal family.  

No comments: