A little Jesus

Do you want your kids to get a good education and learn a little something about Jesus? Then send them to a Christian school. They'll learn "a little something" about Jesus---or maybe they'll learn that Jesus is "a little something."

See, I don't know. There are probably Christian schools all along the spectrum. There are some where every teacher is in love with Jesus and spontaneously interrupts a science lesson to sing songs of praise because of the fact that if Jupiter were not placed precisely where it is, comets would strike the earth 1,000 times more frequently. Then there are some Christian schools where "Christian" is just the name on the letterhead. And there is every shade in the middle.

Here is my problem. My almost 5-year-old granddaughter slept over the other night, and as we were drifting off to sleep together she said, "I wish I could go to a school where they teach about Jesus."

I have four children, and none of them ever expressed such a desire. The irony is that my granddaughter grows up in a home where religion is discouraged. That is to say, she is a flower growing in the cracks of a sidewalk. That is to say, this faith birthed in her is the free gift of God.

I could have told her, "I'm sorry, little one. It's out of the question." But instead I heard myself say, "Me too. Let's pray about it. Nothing is impossible with God." So we prayed, she and I.

Then I started thinking: What if God grants my wish? She is so excited about Jesus right now that it's risky. (She thinks God sends us cardinals at the park, because I told her so.) What if she ends up in a Christian school that gives her just enough "religion" to inoculate her against the real thing? What if they pray and have Christian "values" and say all the right things about Jesus but they aren't as excited about Him as she is? I couldn't bear to see that glory glow fade behind the veil, one degree at a time. I couldn't bear for her to walk in the door of the building in love with Jesus, and walk out the door eight years later with Jesus as just "a little something."

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