know that?”
In Scripture, purple is the color of kings. A verse from the gospel of Mark
flashed through my mind: “His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than
anyone in the world could bleach them.”^1
“And he had this gold thing on his head.. .” Colton chirped on
enthusiastically. He put both hands on top of his head in the shape of a
circle.
“Like a crown?”
“Yeah, a crown, and it had this... this diamond thing in the middle of it
and it was kind of pink. And he has markers, Dad.”
My mind reeled. Here I’d thought I was leading my child gently down this
conversational path but instead, he’d grabbed the reins and galloped
away. Images from Scripture tumbled through my mind. The Christophany,
or manifestation of Christ, in the book of Daniel, the appearance of the
King of kings in Revelation. I was amazed that my son was describing
Jesus in pretty much human terms—then amazed that I was amazed, since
our whole faith revolves around the idea that man is made in God’s image
and Jesus both came to earth and returned to heaven as a man.
I knew by heart all the Bible stories we’d read him over the years, many
from the Arch series, Bible storybooks I’d had as a child. And I knew our
church’s Sunday school lessons and how simplified they are in the
preschool years: Jesus loves you. Be kind to others. God is good. If you
could get a preschooler to take away just one three- or four-word concept
on Sunday mornings, that was a huge accomplishment.
Now here was my kid, in his matter-of-fact, preschooler voice, telling me
things that were not only astonishing on their face, but that also matched
Scripture in every detail, right down to the rainbow colors described in the
book of Revelation,^2 which is hardly preschool material. And as he
babbled, Colton asked me, his pastor-dad, every so often, “Did you know
that?”
And I’m thinking, Yeah, but how do you know it?
I sat in silence for a few moments as Colton resumed his bombing
campaign. As would become a pattern for the next couple of years, I sat
there and tried to figure out what to ask him next. I thought through what he