BOSTON

By now news media, bloggers, celebrities, and well just about everyone in the world has made public comment and condolences about the horrific events that took place at the Boston Marathon this week. Horrific, heartbreaking, devastating, and this list goes on and on. It is no doubt that our nation has abruptly been thrust into grief yet again and our security is shaken. We grieve as a nation for the lives lost and those forever changed. This act of pure evil has invaded an event that was inspiring and encouraging. That is exactly what is was, evil. That is the reality. We live in a fallen world. Evil is all around us.

I was watching the Boston news coverage on Monday while my boys were napping. Grayson came downstairs without me realizing and saw some of the coverage. He had a million questions. Four-year olds have a million questions about everything. He wanted to know what exploded. He wanted to know why there were so many people there. He wanted to know why there were policemen running. He wanted to know if bad guys or good guys made the explosions. It was a tough parenting moment. I had a decision to make. I could change the subject and protect him from the reality or I could try to explain. It was hard. My job is to protect him. It is also my job to teach him about the realities of our fallen world.

I turned the volume down and took Grayson to the kitchen. I talked to him about the Boston Marathon. I talked to him about the amazing athletes who run there and the people who are there celebrating the runners. I then began to explain that there are evil sinful people in the world. There are people who do horrible things to good people. I told Grayson that one or some of those evil people had made explosions at the race to hurt people. I tried to be gentle and I left out most of the scary details. He surmised that a super hero must have been battling bad guys and the explosion hurt people by accident. I wasn't surprised by the response and I didn't try to convince him otherwise. I love that he still can't fathom that someone would hurt all those people on purpose. I hate that the reality is that someone did such a horrible thing on purpose.

Maybe is wasn't the right thing to do. Maybe I should have changed the subject. Maybe he shouldn't hear yet how awful this world is in it's separation from God. However, I felt it was important for him to begin to understand that the world is sinful. I can't shelter him from that truth forever. He saw what he saw and I had a choice to make in that moment about how to respond. I felt like I delivered enough of the reality to him to protect him while being honest. I wanted to be honest with him instead of just dodging his question. I want to Shepard his heart in just the right and I pray every day for guidance in doing that. Man this is tough.

Afterwards we prayed for Boston, for the people hurting there, and for our fallen world. He said amen and went on to ask about snack. He hasn't really mentioned it since and didn't ask any further questions when I had him wear his Boston shirt today. I wanted him to wear it in support even if he didn't understand why. It feels like too small of a gesture for all of that hurt. We will continue to pray for Boston and all of our country, even though that doesn't seem like enough either.