declare The Lewis Family. Campus Outreach Thailand

“frog. happy?”

When I came home yesterday, Sophie and one of my nieces, Isabelle, had their eyes fixed on a toy frog that turns into a prince when you put it in water. It was funny watching them stare, Isabelle has seen things like this so she was here and there playing with other things, but Sophie was glued..this was new, different, exciting, mysterious and fun. I sat down with them and joined in the fun. I wanted to see the white "alka-seltzer" like frog reveal the prince planted within in it...so we watched, and watched, and watched. Come to find out, one of the air holes in the container was covered with a clear sticker that kept the frog from dissolving fast. It was working, just working slowly. Sophie loved watching the bubbles, but then the frogs face and head fell off. At that point I immediately started looking for the little prince, Sophie started crying. It was a concerned cry for the frog that just lost its head. She did not cry hard or even for a long time, but it struck her deep. There was confusion, fear, and questions. "Frog. Head. Fall?" "Oh, no". I attempted to explain, along with her mother and aunt. "You see, the frog is turning into a little boy. The frog is a happy frog." Sophie hears....blaa, blaa, Frog, blaa blaa, face gone"

Sophie asked a few times later last night about the frog and his head and I tried to explain it to her again. She would just say, "Frog. Happy?" and I would say, "Yes, the frog is happy". We repeated this conversation twice today.

First off, how do you explain to a two year old the tale about a prince turning into a frog and then the frog turning into a prince? Secondly, how do you comfort your child when they have been happily staring at a funny bubbly frog to see it's head fall to the bottom and fizz away before her eyes?

I wish I could just give her my perspective and understanding so she would see the big picture and know for sure that the frog is OK. But, I can not, so she will just have to gain understanding to this puzzle over time.

Creation, Noah's Ark and the flood, Moses and the exodus out of Egypt, Isaac on the alter, David and a giant ultimate fighter champion and some rocks, old lady having a baby, hundreds of prophecies, a virgin birth, the trinity, providence, water becoming wine, blind seeing, fishermen preaching, substitutionary atonement, crucifixion, God's wrath satisfied, resurrection, redemption, election, free will, prayer, God's sovereignty, heaven, hell, angles, demons, suffering, joy, faith, love, ecclesiology, and eschatology.

I see God teaching me to trust Him and His perspective. There is so much that I don't understand. Some things twist my understanding, logic, and faith making me feel like I just watched a frog's head fall off as everyone tells me it's OK.

I want to have the trust that Sophie has with me, she somehow knows that the frog is OK, although she is thoroughly bewildered.

It is great to look over my life and see a few of the puzzles of God come together after much prayer, study, and insight from other believers. The Gospel itself is constantly sharing it's good news with me in so many ways showing me that although it is simple, it is full of mind blowing truths. There are many topics of faith that still leave me scratching my head with a trusting smile, sometimes with a frustrated sigh. I don't and won't ever have full disclosure on all the puzzles and mysteries of God, but I can have forever the joy of knowing that He gets it, and the One that gets it loves me.