Theology Blog

“Dad, I would really like to go to Israel with you.”

My first response in my head to my son’s request was one of curious joy, which quickly turned to the practical. “Micah,” I said, “I think that is wonderful and I hope that some day you get to do that. It was a wonderful trip for dad.” His response was simple and unemotional, “Dad, I would like to go with you next year when you go again.” I carefully and gently explained to him (wanting to be realistic, but supportive) I did not think that he would enjoy it at his age. “Micah, it is a lot of walking and a lot of visiting sites. I think you would get bored and would not enjoy it. There is not a lot for kids to do there.” His response struck me as profound. “Dad, I know that, but I still want to go. I just want to walk where Jesus walked.”

I just want to walk where Jesus walked. I could not have said it better myself. For a moment, I got caught up in my own response to his statement. My 9-year-old son had articulated my incredible experience in a more simple and profound way than I had been able to do (part of that pastoral verbosity I suppose). In an instant, I relived my entire trip and the various intellectual, emotional and spiritual responses I had expressed and experienced.

It was an instantaneous reminder not just of a powerful trip, but of my own spiritual journey and all that matters most to me. In Israel, I wanted to walk where Jesus walked, yet my trip and this moment with my son were powerful reminders of what matters most to me: to walk with Jesus and to walk as Jesus walked. In his simple, innocent, pure and authentic expression, Micah reminded me of my own faith and the deep power of childlike faith. Somewhere along the way we lose sight of our childlike faith. It is going to happen to my children, and I had started to wonder up if it was already happening to my son. It is something I do not want to happen, something I will mourn. It goes beyond the parental desire to have our children remain childlike. Every time I get a glimpse of childlike faith in others or even in my own rare moments, I am reminded of the profound nature of Jesus’ challenge to all the disciples to have the faith of a child. Though we lose our childlike nature somewhere along the way, I am convinced we do not have to fully lose our childlike faith and can reclaim it in our adult lives.

Paul called his readers to follow him as he followed Christ. While I enjoy my children imitating the good and mourn the bad imitations (which challenges me to rethink and change my own actions, words and responses), there is something much deeper at stake in my mind. I must do all I can to imitate Christ, not just as a disciple or a Pastor but as a parent. As we imitate Christ, we give our children the gift of faith and the opportunity to do more than imitate us but to imitate Christ. My sincere hope is not that my children will become more like me or some other ideal I have about what they should become but that they would become like Christ.