Caedmon's Call

I should be sleeping right now. Do me a favor, and don't look at the time of this posting, ok?

You'll think I've lost my mind, when in fact, I still have it, it just won't shut off!

So, here I sit, baring my soul with my friends, and countless strangers. 

Good thing I'm not an introvert, isn't it?

Since I'm on a roll, I'll tell you another secret about myself. I tend to get "fritzy"...that's the word that the kids and I have come up with to describe my behavior at times....Fritzy.

Now please, if this is a real word that means something other than uptight, wired, and with a leaning toward DONE, then don't tell me. Just let me go on using my word in my context, because it's just too fun of a word to have to surrender, ok?

Here's an example of when my fritziness shows up the most...my children like to team up on me, at the very moment that I'm loading the van to go run errands. 

And I do mean THE VERY MINUTE...I'm deep in thought, trying to make sure that I have one thing for all of the 12 stops we'll be making, and that I have my cell phone and charger, and iced tea (I drink a lot, but not that kind of drinking...it's AZ, for goodness sake...everyone drinks a lot...and for some it IS that kind of drinking!)..oh, back to my list....lipgloss, toilet paper roll (I'm too cheap to buy kleenex)...water for the kids....you get the idea.

So, it's RIGHT in the midst of all of this that my children, who are seated in the back row of a very long mini-van, like to start peppering me with what they want to do while we're out. 

Remember "going to town" when you were a kid? Well, it's kind of like that for us...I really don't like going out much, so when we do, it's a big deal!

I'll be right in the swing of loading the front passenger seat up with all of my goodies/returns/toilet paper rolls, and in the back I'm getting grilled like it's the Spanish Inquisition.

Due to the great need, I decided we'd have a "rule" about this...no talking to Mommy until I'm at the end of the street! No talking to me while I'm loading the car, no talking to me when I'm backing out, JU JUST NO TALKIE! :)

I mean, if my Mom had had this rule, my cat might still be alive...but hey, I digress. 

So today, they didn't observe my fritzy-free Mommy rule AT ALL!

They were like Mr. & Miss Jabberjaws from the moment we got in the car. 

yakity yak. Yakity Yak. YAKITY YAK. YAKITYYAKITYAKITYAKITYAK!

I thought I was handling it pretty well, until I came up to a stop sign, was trying to find my phone charger, and my fresh glass of iced tea almost spilled all over me.

That's when I blew it. 

Yep, blew it big.

From the back of the van, little man says, "Mommy, I want to tell you something."

I didn't miss a beat. I just went straight into nosedive, headed for full throttle explosion.

No, I didn't yell. I just said, "Caedmon, I just can't do it right now, son. I just can't listen. I'm trying to drive, and there are cars everywhere, and I almost spilled my tea, and I'm FRUSTRATED because I can't find my charger. and I just can't DO it right now!"

From the back I hear, "It's ok Mommy. We don't have to talk about it."

Insert knife, twist, dig deep, twist once more to make sure it's really in deep.

Yes. That's what it felt like.

I knew in that moment that I had really blown it! 

My son didn't want anything. He was just hoping for a listening ear from his Mommy, and I was so focused on myself that I wouldn't even give him that!

Don't you hate it when you blow it with your kids? 

I do. I really, really, really do. I hate it!

It took me three times of asking him, and 3 times of reassuring him that I really did want to hear what he had to say, before he'd finally open up again.

But he did. THANK YOU, JESUS!

And it was rich.

"Mommy. Brad was over playing the other day, and I thought it was the perfect time to tell him about Jesus. I want to make sure that he knows how to give his life to Christ when the time is right, so I told him how to."

Mommy is stunned into silence.

"I told him that he could know the One True God. You know what he told me, Mommy?"

"He told me that that wasn't right. He told me there is a moon god, and a sun god, and a god of the sea, and a rain god. He told me there are lots of gods, no One True God."

"Hmm..So what did you say then, Caedmon?"

"I just told him that those gods weren't real. They were just created from man's imagination, but that the One True God made man, man can't make God."

"Then I asked him if he wanted to become a Christian. I told him he could do it right then and there, all he had to do was repent of his sin, and lay his life down for Jesus Christ. To live for Him, instead of for himself. I told him though, Mommy, that Jesus laid His life down for Brad...He died so that Brad could live one day."

"He said that his parents hadn't taught him this stuff. So, I told him that it's through the children that the parents often get saved."

"What do you mean by that, Caedmon?"

"Well, Mom. Sometimes a child gives their life to Jesus, and then the parents realize that they need to also. I told him that could happen for his parents. Maybe he's supposed to lead the way."

Suffice it to say, a lot rattled through my head at that moment.

1. I need to master my fritzes, not let my fritzes master me.

2. My son is a treasure.

3. I'm so glad we didn't shut this little kid, "Brad" out of our lives because he can be difficult. 

I'm glad that we told Caedmon that the Word says to love him, and that that's exactly what we were going to do.

4. I often look at my kids and wonder what they'll be when they grow up. I really don't wonder that too much anymore with Caedmon. 

This kid loves God's Word so much. He begs me to read the Bible to him, to teach him the Word....and then he goes and teaches others...his friends, strangers on a plane, kids at the park....it truly is the Good News, and he is compelled to share it.

I think I have an evangelist on my hands. Or a pastor. 

That just upped my job responsibilities...but what an honor to be the mother of a pastor, should that happen one day...

Pray for my fritzes, won't you?

And for "Brad" - name has been changed, of course

And for Caedmon - if God does call him to preach or evangelize, he's going to be preaching to a generation that is upside down, quite likely...as his Mommy, I'd covet your prayers even now...

Made me think of this verse today...this was when Paul commissioned Timothy, just as Paul was dying..I love this passage.

2 Timothy 4:1-5	I solemnly charge {you} in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:
	preach the word; be ready in season {and} out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
	For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but {wanting} to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
	and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
	But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Blue Letter Bible. "2 Timothy 4 - New American Standard Bible." Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2009. 7 Apr 2009. < b="2Ti&c="4&t="NASB">