In the wreckage of one of those tragedies that illustrates how cruel man can be to man shone a poignant example of the simple faith of children. A divorced father had gone to the home of his ex-wife and his two sons armed with a gun. When the door was opened, he began shooting leaving his 43-year-old ex-wife and his seven-year-old son, Evan, dead. He then chased his fourteen-year-old son into the yard wounding him with two shots in the back, then turned the weapon on himself and committed suicide.
A schoolmate of the seven-year-old took a toy animal and a note to the desolated home and left them outside. The note, hand printed on school paper, read:
“Dear Evan,
I just found out this morning that you went to heaven (sic.). I will always miss the laughing times with you. See you at god’s house. Have fun with God.
Love,
Baylor”
This is another of those daily illustrations we see of the giant truth of Christ’s teaching in Matthew 18:2,3: “And he called to him a little child , and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except you turn, and become as little children , you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Faith is not a quality of sophistication. It is an unaffectedly simple and artless conviction such as that possessed by Abraham who “against hope believed in hope.” Rom. 4:18. Such faith recognizes no limit to the power of the Almighty. The child’s faith does not consider the obstacles. When I was a child, I stranded myself at the end of a slender branch of a brittle cottonwood tree high above the ground. When my mother said, “I can’t get you down but your dad will be home soon. He’ll get you down” fear of the threatening creaks and the danger of my father’s added weight, vanished. Confidence in my father erased all my fears. Baylor could see his friend Evan in the presence of God enjoying the benefits of heaven. He looked for a day when he could be again with his little friend having fun, much as two youngsters could find pleasure together at their grandparent’s home. How much simpler our lives would be if we could duplicate such faith!
When Baylor says, “see you in God’s house!” it makes you want to hug him. If you can’t find him, hug your own child! Then try to imitate his faith.
