What a Cool Kid!

A really precious thing happened this morning. Not sure what to make of it. Riley came into the kitchen with a look on his face that I've never seen before.

I better back up a bit.

Last night Riley was . . . um I'd better back up a bit more.

Riley, who is ten but operates at about the level of a four-year-old, has had this yellow bear (he's actually worn out two previous stuffies) that he'd carry around while sucking his thumb. After many failed attempts to help him stop, I made the bear disappear. Ding dong, the thumb sucking stopped. That was probably - mmm - four or five months ago. There was really no big issue. He asked about the bear perhaps three times during those months.

Last night Riley was missing his older brother who lives in a different city. Riley was crying and saying he wanted his bear again. I told him that his brother was fine and that he could learn to sooth himself without sucking his thumb.

"But I WANT to."

"I know, but you're going to be ok."

I prayed with him, stroked his hair, rubbed his back and he calmed down.

This morning Riley came into the kitchen with a look on his face that I've never seen before. It was a combination of joy and wonder and peace - and he said,

"I was in God's world last night."

"What do you mean?"

"Jesus spoke to me just like you speak to me. I was right in God's world!"

"What did He say?"

"He said, "Listen to your dad. I'm with you. You don't need to suck your thumb."

"Are you serious?"

"I was RIGHT IN GOD'S WORLD!"

To say that his face was glowing would be an overstatement but it was close.

I love that boy.

I love Jesus.

“Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose people that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? Everything that we have — right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start — comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It's written, “I'll turn conventional wisdom on its head, I'll expose so-called experts as crackpots.” So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn't God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in His wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb — to bring those who trust Him into the way of salvation. "
1st Corinthians 1:19, 21-28