I went on a trip this past weekend with my family and in-laws to a place I had never visited, Eureka Springs, Arkansas. My wife had visited this area before with her parents and siblings when she was much younger. We planned this trip on short notice, traveling within a 3 day weekend, driving 8.5 hours each way. My father in-law intiated this trip so we could all partake in seeing The Great Passion Play as a family, which of course was going to be my first visit here.

Before I continue, I just finished reading Greg’s post “NOW! October 1, 2008“, and i remember a conversation with my wife during our trip home Sunday. We were discussing how short this trip had been. Did we see everything? Did we see it too fast? Did we see things we wasted time on? Did our 2 children enjoy the visit? We rushed to make a trip out of a extra day weekend, knowing we had to get back to our fast paced life, get back into our daily routine.

We do have to slow down and focus more on our faith with God and our actions toward our brothers and sisters. I have to slow down from the non important stuff and concentrate on improving my love and faith in God. Thanks Greg.

Ok, back to this trip to Eureka Springs. This whole trip was planned for us to see The Passion Play, but there is some other interesting sites to see here. There’s shops, eating joints, bed/breakfast places, caverns, ghost tours, shows, wildlife, the mountains and the viewing of the Christ of the Ozarks.

I’m sure everyone knows this, but The Passion Play is about the last few days of Jesus’ life on earth. Its an outdoor theater with several natural stages set up for the different scenes that occur with Jesus. I enjoyed the performance, but it’s the feeling inside my heart that gets me when I hear or see these stories that took place.

I think its safe to say that we, as people and as men, tend to respond to things better if we can visualize or see it. I know i have read and heard these stories about Jesus’ last days on earth and have had emotions about the occurances that took place. But adding the sense of vision to my already imaginative version just made it more emotional at that time.

I’m probably not explaining this feeling as well as I would like to, so I will now add a curious 4 year old son to the picture. I also have a 11 year old daughter present, but she is sitting quietly in her chair watching what took place out on stage. My son knew why we were coming on this trip or I at least explained it to him before we left. Well he pretty much starts off moving from seat to seat, lap to lap, of the family members, watching bits of the play before he settles in my wifes lap to watch most of the show. Here’s where I’m hoping the people sitting behind us are ready for a education session while watching the play.

My son starts asking questions in normal voice tone to my wife and myself involving what was happening with Jesus. First question was, “Thats not really Jesus, right? Thats just a man playing Jesus, Jesus is in Heaven with God. Right?” My son continued with basic questions directed toward scenes he was watching, but it was when Jesus was being mistreated and whipped, that the questions by my son got serious.

“Why are they doing that to Jesus?” “Why would someone hit Jesus?”
“They better stop that right now!” My son literally was up on his feet and moving down the isle to get to the stairs. “Im going down there and whip those bad guys for whipping Jesus”. My wife is pullin him back, reminding him that this is a play and explaining again what was going on.

He continues with questions about Jesus carrying the cross, and why are the bad guys putting him on that cross. We know how this story ends and i believe my 4 year old son ended this night learning more details of Jesus’ time on earth. As we walk back to our vehicles, Christian, my son, tells me what happened with Jesus after they placed him in “that cave”. “Daddy, on the 3rd day, an angel came and Jesus went up to Heaven to be with God. He watches over me every day now”.

Like I said, I enjoyed the play, but it was this experience with a child that made this trip something even more. Greg’s post, Entry 12 on Act, talks about Jesus’ actions on earth, the disciples actions after Jesus arose into Heaven, and what are we going to do to Live Bold and take action now. I noticed my child was taking action that night. He had no fear, no holding back his feelings, thoughts, or actions. He was authentic in his action, his innocent mind being filled with the truth and he expressed his feeling and concerns. This is what I need to be better at, cleaning my mind from the poisons of temptations, focusing on our Lord and Savior, and acting out what God has asked me to do.

I got this from Lee’s Sept 16 post on hunting;
God has a way of teaching us lessons through the eyes and thoughts of our children. In fact, God tells us that we should approach him like a child… full of wonder, trust, excitement, and in an authentic way.
I continue to have failure daily, but I continue to rise, learn, and conquer too.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Christian. Thank you, Greg.

-Vince