Great Balls of Fire

Our eldest has been quite intrigued with the happenings of the Pentecost these days, courtesy of his Children's Church teacher. For example, we've been asked numerous questions about how the apostles were able to be understood by people who spoke different languages. I suppose this would be a hard concept for a very literal fellow, much like many concepts that we believers take for granted.

Tonight as we drove in our van, hubby was following behind in his truck. Despite my assurances that daddy was indeed there, our youngest was very concerned about whether or not daddy was actually behind us and expressed his desire to remove his car seat buckle so he could turn and see for himself. I told him that, no, he could not unbuckle. Then, I proceeded to explain that he would just have to trust that daddy was indeed behind us in his truck, much like we have to trust that God is there even though we can't see Him. While his younger brother pondered my impressive analogy -- or became distracted by something else, most likely -- the eldest spoke up, in typical random fashion, and asked why the apostles had "fire balls" over their heads. Thankfully, I am well acquainted with random associations and knew immediately that we were back to the Pentecost.

I explained that, in my understanding, the flames were there as a sign of the Holy Spirit's presence with the apostles on that day.

"Why were there balls of fire?" he queried.

"I'm not sure," I said, "but I think it was just something God used to show that the Holy Spirit was with the apostles."

"What did the fire balls do?" he asked, probably thinking of some defensive weapon from a cartoon.

"Well, they were just there above the people's heads...and I think they went away soon after."

"They went away?" asked he.

"Yes, I think God just used them as a sign for that one occasion, the first time the Holy Spirit had come," I explained. "But the Holy Spirit was still with them, just like the Holy Spirit is with mommy and daddy because we chose to love and follow Jesus."

Silence.

"And some day hopefully you'll choose to love and follow Jesus, too, and the Holy Spirit will be with you too, " I continued.

"Will I get a ball of fire too?" he asked with excitement.

"No, I don't think so," I said.

"Ah, man! I want a ball of fire!"

Yeah, I bet!