Joseph Accepts Christ!

This past week the boys were both able to go to a Vacation Bible School through a church nearby. They were thrilled beyond belief that they could go together. Here they are with all their loot one night.

Samuel looks shorter than Joe, so, I just had to figure it out once and for all their height difference. Looks like they are exactly the same size.

Joseph was talking all about his first ever VBS experience. He was so excited. He loves new things and meeting new people. I was so thankful that he was able to have this experience, but never really considered what an impact it would have on him.

Ever since Samuel accepted Christ, Joseph has been saying "God is working in my heart, and I'm almost a Christian, but not yet."

We always thought that was pretty profound for a 3 year old.

So, this particular night (Tuesday, Aug 9) Joseph was in his bed waiting for me to come in and do our nightly routine. He came running into the bathroom where I was with Samuel and yelled "tonight's the night! I want to become a Christian tonight!"

Andy was out to dinner with people from work so I called him and he was on his way home. I told Joseph that we would wait for Daddy to come home so he could help him pray. When he heard Andy opening the front door, he yelled "He's home!!! I can be a Christian now!" After Andy talked with him, he prayed and asked Jesus to come into his heart and forgive him of all of sins and asked him for the strength to live for him all of his days.

We were totally shocked. It was more than overwhelming to have Samuel come to know Christ at age 4, but then 5 months later to have Joseph accept Christ as well. We have been speechless since then. They obviously have a long road ahead of them to fully understand the depth of this decision (don't we all), but to the extend of their understanding of the gospel, they want to claim it as their own and make their relationship with Christ personal.

I gave Joseph a 'christian necklace' as they call it, just like Sam. And they bounced all around the room together for quite some time. Excited by Joseph's recent decision, but I'm sure the cupcake with icing they had at VBS didn't help. Ugg!


The next morning Joseph had this huge wave of sadness rush over him. I asked him what was wrong. He asked "Mommy, are there two Gods?" And I reminded him that God was in 3 parts, but that there was only 1 God." He said "Oh NOOOOO! That means that Sam isn't a Christian anymore!" He thought that since he was now a Christian and Christ was living in his heart, that he must have had to leave Samuel's heart to live in Joe's heart. Then he asked if maybe God was in Sam's heart and Jesus was in his heart. Makes sense to a 3 year old, but bad theology :) Once I was able to walk through how God can be in every one's hearts who trust in Him, he was so relieved and hasn't worried since.

It's very cool that however different the gospel was preached to Joseph, it was just what he needed to make everything fit together. We are so thankful that we live in a country that has freedom of religion to allow our child the opportunity to hear the good news of Christ preached outside of our home.

As we celebrate 11 years since our first date today, we are overwhelmed at God's goodness in our lives. He has blessed us with an amazing marriage, 3 fantastic children, with 2 of them who have accepted Christ. That's a whole lot to be thankful for.