Neither of my sons is baptized. The reason we didn't do it when it was time made sense. Their godfathers are set, we've asked each of my brother's-in-law. Both of Sarah's brothers are in the military and we decided to hold off while each was deployed--first Justin in Iraq and then Adam in Afghanistan.
Adam has been back from Afghanistan for more than a year. Every three months or so, Sarah brings up baptism. And we talk about it. But for the past three years we've had plans to move. Any day now. I swear we're going to move. And when we move, we'll find a church. Of course, first, we have to choose a religion. The easy part, right?
Lately, I've been feeling guilty that we don't attend church. Cooper continues to absorb the world like a sponge, and I think its time for him to get some of that old-time religion. So sometimes Cooper and I talk about God. As with everything else, what sticks amazes me.
I started with Genesis. Let there be light, separating heaven and earth,etc. etc. Cooper especially liked the part about Adam's rib. He gets that God made everything, put everything in motion. It makes perfect sense to him. Shortly after I put the idea in his head, it started to leak out.
One day, Cooper was playing with blocks and he built a "giant factory that makes things." He told Sarah, "Look mommy, I made all of this. I'm kind of like God." (is it blasphemous to capitalize here)?
Down the block from us, our street has a parkway with trees. I was driving home with Cooper in the car. We had a colloquy about God.
Cooper: Daddy, did God make all those trees?
Me: Yep, God made the trees and the grass.
Cooper: Did God make that car?
Me: Well, some people at the car factory made the car. But God made everything, so God made all the metal that went into the car. And he (until a better alternative is suggested I will be using the masculine form as gender neutral when speaking to Cooper--and yes, I consider God gender neutral. Does God have chromosomes?) made the people who built the car, so in a way God made the car.
Cooper(God bless, 'im): But didn't their mommies make all the people?
Me: Wellllll... yes. But remember, God made the first mommy and daddy, so he made all of us.
Cooper: Boy Daddy, that God sure is a special guy, huh?
Me: Yep, buddy, he sure is.
A couple weeks later, Cooper was playing with the television remote trying to stream Land Before Time on Netflix. He said to Sarah ":Mommy, I'm trying to find the dinosaur movie. And why don't we get to meet God until we die?" Neither of us knows where he got that one.
So I think Cooper has gotten a good start. Though, I'm not sure where to go from here. I know one book that should hold his interest with all things religion.
