One thing I’ve learned in parenting 4 boys is that bedtime is never routine.  We always shoot for routine, but rarely does it turn out that way.  It’s usually marked with an “I don’t want to go to bed” from the youngest to “I’m hungry, I want an apple” to some typical questions in an effort to delay bedtime even further.

Then one night last week, after our prayers and as I was walking out the door, I hear, “Dad, how do we know God is real?” from the top bunk.  Well, that is a question that stopped my progress out the door.  I spun around to quickly respond, “That is a great question.” And the conversation began.

Not too far into the conversation, another question rang out… this time from the bottom bunk… “Dad, am I a Christian?”  Wow… here we go.

Now, this is actually a question that Cole has asked a few times over the past little while and each time I’ve done a little probing to see how He is understanding and responding to the Gospel.  And sometimes, the conversation would move forward a bit and other times, he was ready to move on.  But this time was different.

So we spent the next good little while talking about the Gospel.  I actually had him tell me the Gospel.  He preached it to himself.  He knows the Gospel and already believes the Gospel.  God has clearly been working on His heart for quite some time now. But we had an awesome opportunity to just outwardly confirm what the Holy Spirit had already been doing in His little 7-year old heart.

And so right there in his bed, he didn’t even pray after me – repeating any words, he just prayed on His own, out loud to God, and responded with words to the faith that is in His heart.  And with tears in my eyes, I knelt by his bed, praying with Him and rejoicing that God has adopted another one of my boys into His family.  He has given Cole a new name, a new heart and a new eternal destination.

And how awesome, that as a dad, I’ve had the opportunity to share the Gospel and watch my three oldest boys respond to that Good News right in the very same bedroom!  And while we were rejoicing in the bedroom, we know from God’s Word that all of heaven was rejoicing.

God is good.  He is faithful to seek and to save the lost.  He calls His children to Himself and He changes little hearts.

And it all started with a question.  And you know, it ended with a question too.  I was on my way out the door again when I hear, “Dad, will they build another Titanic?”  To which I responded, “I hope not, the first one didn’t end so well.  But we will have to talk about that another time… it’s time for bed!”