Explaining The Trinity To Your 5 Year Old

Think you know your theology? Try explaining it to a 5 year old. We have a Children's Bible for our grandchildren who are five going on six. 

It's what we read to them as part of story time at bedtime. They've been involved at church since a very young age so are remarkably attuned to God and know about Jesus. 

We were reading about Easter and it's the first time I've had to explain to them about Jesus being killed. They knew this already so that obstacle was out of the way. 

But they started to ask why and I stumbled through trying to explain how Jesus, being God's Son, came down to conquer death, i.e. the 'death of death'.

The concept of 'sin' doesn't make much sense to them yet and I wasn't about to try and explain that. 

So the questions flowed. Who killed Jesus? Why? How did he die on the cross?

And then trying to explain how when he died he wasn't really dead. Well, his body was dead though where was it for three days? Then I tried to explain how our body isn't who we are. It's our soul. Or spirit, something deep inside of us.

I tried to explain death without using the word 'hell' because at five the idea of hell is freaky. They know too much about the devil. I think I'm hesitant to use certain terms in their impressionable minds as when I was a kid I used to think God was out to get me and that I was a child of Satan. I did not learn about God in a positive way until many years later.

And then he was resurrected. Who was resurrected? Where was his body? Where did it go? 

All of the ideas I have in my head about the Trinity are very difficult to explain without resorting to theological terms such as 'one essence, three persons' and 'two natures in one person'. 

It is a worthy challenge because if you can't explain it to a child it means you don't get it. Truthfully, a childlike mind no doubt more easily grasps it or isn't so bothered when it doesn't seem to add up.

The Basement

Ah, yes. The basement. That thing we've been putting off for years, that thing we missed in the inspection report given to us before we moved in (19 years ago, mind you), that thing we've tried to deny in hopes that something would happen where we wouldn't have to deal with it.

So much for that. I called a 'we'll pay cash for your house' company and after giving them the details their 'we'll call you back' was a dodge. They never called back. Even they don't want the house. The joys of homeownership.

As one who took years before I purchased an actual cell phone and operated with a voice mailbox and had an actual mailing address only operating with a PO Box, home ownership wasn't something I desired. It was something I wanted because of privacy. No drunken neighbors upstairs, can't hear the couple fights next door, no cops in the middle of the night, just privacy.

Repairs and home improvements? Hadn't given that a single thought. Now, along with the outside of the house which is the root of the problem, the symptoms, those things we overlooked or denied, are costly as well.

The deeper I dig (no pun intended), the more it unfolds what the issues are. We knew so little about owning a home and jumped the gun in preparation that these things didn't unfold until years later. We were just excited to not be in an apartment to start.

The clay pipes are obviously clogged or broken and so the French drain isn't doing what it is supposed to do. The earth is moving over time with the water that just sits and goes nowhere.

Yes, the time has come. 

As this goes it would appear we are more or less going to be building a new home. 

Join me on the journey. It's going to get interesting.

The Joys Of Homeownership

Let's talk about my house. In the midst of all the philosophizing or theologizing is reality. I've always felt this is complaining and just a problem that needs solved but I think also this helps put me in touch with the real world where people, not just ideas, live. Perhaps someone will relate, find inspiration or be helped as this unfolds. 

We've lived in our little two-bedroom home since 2000. It's been a great home, has housed my wife and I along with our daughter (and dogs), including our two grandbabies for the first two years of their life. 

We haven't done a whole lot to it aside from a new roof (had to cash in some 401(k) money to do that), ripping out the carpet in the living and dining room and refinishing the wood floors thanks to YouTube and painting the dining/living room.

It's got a cottage like feel but after nearly 20 years we've reached a critical point. The basement. Oh, the basement. When it rains, our backyard doesn't really drain anywhere and it moves toward the house. We've got a French drain and an inside sump but my guess is that the clay pipes are either clogged or busted up and the water just sits. 

And it is starting to show through the concrete blocks in the basement. It has been for years but the cracks are getting worse. Apparently we've hit Stage 2 (out of 4) wall failure. 

Here's the backyard after a rain. The bare patch was last year's grub invasion. Ah, the joys of home ownership. It is not a good investment, it requires an investment. 

Fights with neighbors, complaints to the city, the police called several times because my car is parked in the street (along with it being egged, written on in mustard, having notes left on it and having bags of trash thrown on it), the joys of the suburbs.

The porch was built several years ago after the original collapsed during a snow storm. The concrete slab was left in place and the porch built over top of it. Not sure if that was the best move or not.

I'll follow up with the basement photos soon. Tough to really see but the problem is water.

We've had many contractors and basements people come out and give estimates and it ranges from $5 to $20K depending on the goal, from cover up to something more akin to fixing the issue.

We're at the point now that we either decide to stay and fix, fix and sell, sell at a loss or hope and pray for a miracle of some kind (the nature of miracles is that we have no idea what that would even look like).

I post this only because we are sort of at that point where we've thrown our hands up in the air. We'll keep going but it's a bit of surreality we've not invested in fixing it up as we should have as many of our funds have been diverted elsewhere (which are stories that will be unfolded in the future) in this adventure called life.