What Are You Going to Be When You Grow Up?
By Dale Parsons

The real question for an adult is what are you going to do when you grow up. Somewhere between child and adulthood we lose the ability to be. We are destined to do.

Children are born with an extraordinary ability to be whatever they want to be at a moment's notice. If gangsters are on the loose, an FBI agent is born in an instant with all the skills and wisdom to bring the culprit to justice in the least possible time. If the stars suddenly strike the interest of a youngster enjoying a warm summer night, an old football helmet will protect him from zero gravity in the lawn chair of his rocket blasting into outer space. What ten-year-old has not hunted wild animals while on safari among the flowers in the yard? What young boy has not fought the great battles of World War II while running between the houses from foxhole to foxhole carrying nothing but a stick? There isn't a single discovery yet to be made by the greatest minds that has not already been uncovered by the scientific research of a pre-adolescent wearing an old white shirt and mixing glasses of colored water together down in the basement. The excitement of winning the World Series cannot match the thrill of a child all by himself in the back yard with his whiffle ball and plastic bat, announcing to the stands, " The score is 6 to 3, it's the bottom of the ninth, two outs, the bases are loaded, the count is 3 and 2, and here's the pitch..." There isn't a single well-known musician anywhere who did not hear the cheering fans long before she ever completed her first year of lessons.

When I was twelve years old I had a job babysitting for two elementary age boys for a couple of hours after school each day. The younger boy loved to have a bath towel pinned to his collar. He would run through the house screaming his theme song at the top of his lungs. As soon as his cape was attached he was remarkably transformed. There was no foe too strong, or danger too ominous, he was more than able to handle any challenge. He truly was Batman.

There is a wonderful secret that only children know and parents would do well to rediscover. Something amazing happens to kids and parents often miss it. It's something that makes a child run faster, jump higher, and feel stronger than he's ever been, his courage soars. Nothing can beat him. All of the excitement and strength of life can be totaled up and expressed in one word that only kids understand. Jammies. Especially the footie kind. Dreams are reachable and hopes come alive when a kid is wearing his jammies.

What happens to us? What is it that makes us so sensible, so calculating, so wise that we stop being and start doing? The common question everyone hears is, what do you do for a living? Why don't we ask, who are you? What do you think about? What do you dream about? When was the last time you laid in the grass and looked at the clouds? How long has it been since you put a stalk of celery in a glass of colored water and watched the leaves turn? Do you know what it's like to hear wind rushing through pine trees?

Somehow in life we lose the simple thrill of living. We do just what Jesus said not to do when he said that life does not consist of the things we own. We take stock of all our stuff and gain a sense of fulfillment by what we have been able to purchase.

When one comes to know Christ it often seems that within about three weeks the transition begins, moving from being to doing. That first knowing, that sense of freedom, the weight lifted, the initial
excitement is slowly replaced by a busy-ness for Christ. The simple being is overcome by all the "necessary" things one must do if he is going to be a good Christian. The doing of those things is reward in itself. The benefit derived from them is lost in the accomplishment. And so is set the path toward righteousness derived by works rather than faith. Human existence functions around rewards for tasks completed. We receive a paycheck for the workweek finished. Trophies are given to winning teams. We keep the new car by making timely payments. We eat in a restaurant and leave a generous tip for a waiter who has treated us well. The "employee of the month" is honored for a job well done. Incentives are grated to sales people who exceed the quota. Students are given scholarships for high achievement.

All of these things have their place. The problem is we try to fit knowing Christ into the mold of human existence. The Christian life is a relationship, not a do-to-get proposition. When we believe on Christ for salvation he comes to live within. We are changed in a moment, we are made new in Christ. There are things we must do to remain healthy physically. There are things we must do to remain healthy spiritually. But being human is not something we do, it is something we are. Being a Christian is not something we do, it is who we are.

What about good works you say? Good works are the natural fruit of being in Christ. We turn it around and try to prove we are in Christ by the good works we do. Faith and works don't mix. Doing good and living right is natural to those who are in Christ.

It's time for all of us to rediscover childhood again. If there is anything that truly represents the real Christian life, it is children. They have a simple faith. They are innocent. There is nothing they can't do. The rest of us just need to put our jammies on again.

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