Baptizing the Cats

I'm certain that title has got you begging for details, doesn't it? It would me. Especially knowing my son.

Today was Josh day. We went for a much needed haircut, went to eat at Red Robin and went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D. School starts on Friday and I wanted us to have a special time before he went back to school and I wasn't with him every day.

On the way there, he was laying in the back seat and out of nowhere he said, "When Jesus comes back do you think it will be ok if I take my Kitty?" At this point I'm not sure if he's talking about the stuffed kitty he takes EVERYWHERE or if it's Little Kitty, the real one at home. I said casually, "I'm sure Jesus won't mind." Sometimes there is just no need to go into semantics. He was quiet for a minute and said, "Well, I wish he would come on and come." Huh??? What's this about. I'm still not sure where this came from, but I didn't respond and he said, "Will we have our regular bodies or will he make us die first?" Oh, my, hmmmm? So, I respond that I'm not quite sure but that I know when we get to heaven we will get new bodies (I'm going to be tall and skinny, by the way!) that are like God's and Jesus's and I'm just not sure how that's all going to work. Another pause, followed by, "Do you think my cats and dogs will be there?" "Yes, absolutely. I really believe animals will be in heaven." Longer pause and then the gut-buster for me. "Well, I'm going home and baptize all the cats and dogs so they can go to heaven with me." Oh yeah, right, THAT'S going to happen. *smile*. I said nothing. I'm trying to appreciate his tender heart and his love for his pets when he follows up with this one. "No, I think I'm going to tell them what Brother David told me." Think. Think, Maria, what does he mean?? Brother David is our pastor. OH!! "Oh, you mean you are going to share the gospel with them, right?" He said, "YES!! We have lots of Bibles and I'm going to tell them what Brother David told me."

God loves hearts like Joshua's. I know this. The Bible tells us we are to be like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven. This was purity and love of God and all the things He created at it's finest. Parenting just doesn't get any better than this. I said, "I think that's a great idea, Joshua." Later, I told him I didn't think he'd get to far with the cat baptism because they would probably scratch him up pretty badly. He replied, "No, I've already put Little Kitty in the tub before." WHAT??? I said, "Um, when?" He said, "I ran just a little bit of water in the tub and put him in it." I replied, "But, didn't he jump out?" Superior thinker that he is, he replied, "Nope, I closed the curtain." Ahhh.... one cat down, several and some dogs to go.