The Pumpkin Patch Parable - Just More Entertainment from Nathan

My goodness. I was going to say I should start paying Nathan to be our family court-jester, but then I realized he doesn't pay room-and-board, so... there ya go!

Yesterday before I found out he used to be a sand crab, I read from our new book "The Pumpkin Patch Parable". It's a parable about the farmer who lovingly plants a pumpkin, waits a long time, harvests the pumpkin, gently cleans and carves it, and turns it into a jack-o-lantern. The parable teaches children that God can clean out our inside, throw out the yucky stuff, and turn us into a new creation.

I always feel for the disciples. Jesus spoke in parables and they were always clueless as to what He was trying to communicate. I can understand. I failed my English AP. Why did everything have to represent something? Why couldn't I just read the poem and be done with it? Anyway, it turns out Nathan has the same heart.

I told him that this was just like what God does for us. Nathan started flipping through the book looking for a picture of God. I told him we'll pretend the farmer is God. "See, how God gently picks us up and cleans us off?" Oops. He said he didn't need a bath. "But He can clean our inside. Our heart. Everybody does bad things, called sin." Oops, again. It turns out Nathan never does anything wrong. He never sins. He never disobeys. Hmm. He starts talking about how God can open our mouth and wash out the inside. I knew he was talking about soap and water kind of cleaning. Then he ended our discussion as he started picking out a new book to read and said, "And I not want to be a pumpkin."