J: I’ll be the dancer at Kids Choir this year. How about you, Ben? Still gonna be the speaker?
Ben: I wish I could still go to Kids Choir, or Awana, or both!
J: Why?
Ben: My dad doesn't believe in God and he doesn't let me go any more.
J: Tell him that you really really really want to.
Ben: Nah…he’ll just say no. He likes to take me to his friends’ and he plays computer stuff there. There was that guy who gave me a hundred bucks for Chinese New Year.
Me: Can you ask your mom to take you to church for Kids Choir?
Ben: Nah…she always goes with my dad.
Me: Or, come with us!
Ben: Nah…I don’t want to. They'd stay up late at friends’ house. If I don’t go with them I’ll have to stay at Esther’s house for a long long time, and sometimes even have to sleep over. I want to be with my own parents, not Esther’s parents.
N: Hey, I got an idea! You can say “please”, lots of “please’s”, and “thank you’s” too!
Ben: Come on. I know he’s gonna say “no”. It’s always a “no” from him.
T: How about you just cry, until your mom fights with your dad. Make them fight and kill each other. Hahahahaha…then you can go anywhere you want!
J: That won’t work. Ben doesn’t even know how to drive. How does he go anywhere if his parents die and would no longer drive for him?
Ben: Yeh, it’s true. I can’t walk to church. That’s 50 miles of walk, or maybe, 100 miles, I am not sure.
T: Looks like you need to learn to drive, today, right now!
Ben: Nah…forget about it. That’s too hard. I don’t have to be the speaker at the Kids Choir after all. I already remembered all the Bible verses in my heart. I’ll be ok.
Ben是一個八歲的小孩。
我把我們幾個人的這段對話記錄下來，也許哪天可以拿給他的爸爸看。關於孩子的信仰，一直是個眾說紛紜的話題。
記下來也是為了提醒自己。我常常以為小孩子可憐，沒有自主的能力，其實我們成人在消化煩惱、自我調節方麵，不見得強過一個孩子。小孩容易知足，眼睛裏邊也總看得到希望，值得我們大人學習。
馬太福音上說：我實在告訴你們，你們若不回轉，變成小孩子的樣式，斷不得進天國。
