J:          I’ll be the dancer at Kids Choir this year.  How about you, Ben?  Still gonna be the speaker?

Ben:     I wish I could still go to Kids Choir, or Awana, or both!

J:          Why?

Ben:     My dad doesn’t  believe in God and he doesn’t let me go any more.

J:          Tell him that you really really really want to.

Ben:      Nah…he’ll just say no.  He likes to take me to his friends’ and he plays computer stuff there.  There was that guy who gave me a hundred bucks for Chinese New Year.

Me:      Can you ask your mom to take you to church for Kids Choir?

Ben:      Nah…she always goes with my dad.

Me:      Or, come with us!


Ben:     Nah…I don’t want to.  They’d stay up late at friends’ house. If I don’t go with them I’ll have to stay at Esther’s house for a long long time, and sometimes even have to sleep over.  I want to be with my own parents, not Esther’s parents.

N:        Hey, I got an idea!  You can say “please”, lots of “please’s”, and “thank you’s” too!

Ben:     Come on.  I know he’s gonna say “no”.  It’s always a “no” from him.

T:         How about you just cry, until your mom fights with your dad.  Make them fight and kill each other.  Hahahahaha…then you can go anywhere you want!

J:          That won’t work.  Ben doesn’t even know how to drive.  How does he go anywhere if his parents die and would no longer drive for him?

Ben:     Yeh, it’s true.  I can’t walk to church.  That’s 50 miles of walk, or maybe, 100 miles, I am not sure.

T:         Looks like you need to learn to drive, today, right now! 


Ben:      Nah…forget about it.  That’s too hard.  I don’t have to be the speaker at the Kids Choir after all.  I already remembered all the Bible verses in my heart. I’ll be ok.

 

Ben是一个八岁的小孩。

我把我们几个人的这段对话记录下来，也许哪天可以拿给他的爸爸看。关于孩子的信仰，一直是个众说纷纭的话题。

记下来也是为了提醒自己。我常常以为小孩子可怜，没有自主的能力，其实我们成人在消化烦恼、自我调节方面，不见得强过一个孩子。小孩容易知足，眼睛里边也总看得到希望，值得我们大人学习。

马太福音上说：我实在告诉你们，你们若不回转，变成小孩子的样式，断不得进天国。