but how does he get out of my heart?

Last Wednesday on the way home from a busy morning of running errands and going to have lunch with Matt, Micah asked me a question that I was not ready for. We were almost home and he said, "mommy, once Jesus gets into your heart how does he get out?" Totally caught off guard I stammered around for a bit before answering him. "Well buddy, Jesus doesn't actually live in your heart, what that means is that you are asking Jesus to come and help change your heart. To help you become more loving and patient and kind." He thought for a bit and than said, "Oh." I told him that it is something that takes a long time. To change your heart. That mommy and daddy are still being changed and that we are still growing, but that we wouldn't be able to do it without Jesus' help. I asked him if he would like to ask Jesus to change his heart and he said, "I need to think about it for awhile". I told him that would be great and I breathed a deep sigh cause some of these things we take for granted are really hard to explain to a 4 year old. I haven't really talked to Micah about asking Jesus into your heart before because, well, frankly I thought he was too young to really understand it.

That night after work I told Matt about our coversation and asked him to bring it up sometime to Micah again. So Thursday night after he got home from the gym and we were all having dinner Matt told Micah that he had heard about our talk the day before. Micah put his fork down and said, "daddy, I have a scientific question for you. How does Jesus get out of your heart once he gets in?" Matt went over all of it again and told him that just like mommy said it takes a long time for Jesus to change your heart. Micah asked about God and that he thought Jesus was God. Matt told him that Jesus was God's son and at that point Micah said, "Whaaaaat?" Matt explained that just like his name was Matt and Micah's name was Micah that they also had the same last name and belonged to the family of Harrison. They were different, but similar. And just like he loved Micah, God loved his son, Jesus. At this point, I got up to put some dishes in the kitchen. When I sat down Matt was asking Micah if he wanted to pray. Micah said, "yes!" Matt asked him if he wanted daddy to pray first and than Micah would follow and Micah told Matt "No thank you, I would like to do it myself." So we all held hands and Micah said, "Dear Jesus, Thank you for this food, I hope you love us, and please come and help to change my heart. In Jesus name Amen." Matt and I looked up from the most sincere and sweetest prayer ever, with tears in our eyes. Matt swallowed the lump in his throat and said, "that was a really great thing you just did buddy. I am so proud of you." And with that dinner was over. It was such a special moment and the begining of a long road of changing a heart.