I asked something to the effect of, "When we're in trouble, what does Jesus do?" Obviously, I was fishing for a simple response like, "He helps us." Without even pausing, Gwen answered, "He makes all the animals dead." I looked more closely at her face. She wasn't wearing the mischievous little grin that usually accompanies her inappropriate or silly remarks. She was being completely serious. We tried to have her clarify, but she repeated essentially the same answer - "Jesus makes the animals dead."
Fortunately - at this point of confusion and concern - something clicked in my brain. I remembered that just a few nights earlier our bedtime scripture reading had come from Chapter 16, The Prophet Moses, in the Church's illustrated Old Testament Stories. We read about Moses leaving Egypt. The story continued, "Jesus Christ spoke to Moses from the bush. Jesus knew that the Israelites were not happy. He did not want them to be slaves." Next, we read about the ten plagues that were sent to Pharaoh to persuade him to let the Israelites go. Based on the picture, can you guess what the fifth plague was?
I looked back at the story to see exactly what it said at this point. It read, "Moses said that Jesus would make the Egyptians' animals die. Soon their animals died."
It's amazing how little I think my kids are paying attention or listening to me, especially during the daily routines like scripture reading. Even more amazing is how much their little minds actually do absorb and retain. I think what impresses me the most is that Gwen remembered not only the details of this event, but also its context. Jesus did this for a reason - to help people who were in trouble. So Gwen's response to my question, as bizarre and odd as it seemed, was absolutely correct. And now I have a good idea for next week's FHE lesson. It will focus on all the animals Jesus spared when He told Noah to put them in the ark. :)
