Covered

I was sitting and enjoying a Christmas movie with my wife tonight. Troy had no interest in it because there were neither dinosaurs or singing trolls in it. So, he was running around like a madman. When I sat down on the couch, I grabbed one of the couch pillows and put it behind my back. Troy decided to be nice and get me another one too. And another one. And another one. He handed me all eleven pillows, one by one. I took them and laid them on top of myself, covering more and more of me with each successive pillow.

When I was completely covered, Troy jumped up on the couch giggling at me. He took the last pillow back off my face and smiled at me. I said, “Troy, I want to teach you a lesson, using these pillows as an illustration. I want you to imagine that each of these pillows is something you did wrong, something that would make dada mad and get you in trouble. But instead of getting mad at you, dada took them from you and laid them on himself instead. He took your punishment, so you didn’t have to get in trouble. That’s what Jesus did for us. He took our sins on Himself, so we didn’t have to be punished. Jesus took your pillows, Troy. And Christmas, this thing that we’re celebrating tomorrow, is Jesus’ birthday. He was not much younger than you are now when He came into the world, just a baby. But even back then, he already knew about you and loved you.”

Troy seemed genuinely interested...not! He laughed and covered my face with the pillow again. Oh well, I’ll keep trying.