My Clayton

So we have this almost seven year old. (You all know the guy!) He's going to be one BIG guy. I mean, at not even seven, he's weighing like 82 pounds and is around 54 inches tall. Yeah...BIG! And that's what everyone comments on constantly....his size. I get annoyed. Probably shouldn't, but I do. (It's like there's nothing else to him.) He thinks it's neat that he's so much bigger than his peers. I'm really glad for that. I'd be self-conscious as much as people ask, talk, marvel at it. I actually always marvel when people don't comment on his size.

But what I find really amazing about my Clayton is his heart. He's got this HUGE heart (guess you gotta have one to go with that big body! You know you were thinking that!) He just loves and loves. Truly, I have never met a child with a more empathetic heart than my Clayton. It even gets him into trouble from time to time. We've had to have lots of talks lately about protecting our hearts and bodies. His loving heart has definitely been taken advantage of quite a bit over the last few weeks.

Getting back to the original point....we were driving to football practice a couple weeks back and he was telling me how we should give our old shoes away to poor people. And I said, "Well, we already do. We give away all of our things that we can't use anymore. That way, someone who needs them can have them instead of us just throwing them away." And then he said, "I want to talk to poor people. Like not just say 'hi,' but really talk to them. Like tell them about how they shouldn't steal and about Jesus." (Yes, we had the "not everyone who's poor steals" conversation. Not sure where he got that!) About two years ago, he decided he wants to be a missionary so he "can tell people about Jesus and heaven." I remember he seemed burdened that there were people who might go their whole life without knowing Jesus. Wow. The week prior on the way home from football, he told me that he wants to be rich. (What kid doesn't, right?) But wait, there's more. Rich, so he can give lots of his money away to poor people. And then, on the way home from football tonight...."You know another job I'd be good at besides a missionary?"
Me: "What Clay-man?"
C: "A pastor!"
Yep, to see him in action, you'd probably agree that the shepherding-heart gift is likely already there.

Personally, I think it's cool that I have these "big" conversations with my "big" kid on the way to football (the thing that the world thinks he should be good at because he's so big.) But if God has anything to do with it, we may just be raising this kiddo for much bigger things.