ABRACADABRA!!

Kids come up with the wackiest of ideas. At some point, most of us lose that innocent way in viewing the world, as different experiences and disappointments start diluting the brilliant colours that is life, until we start seeing everything in different shades of gray. There are a fractional few who can keep an unfiltered outlook, no matter what happens in life.

I am sitting in my most recent BSF class, fighting the urge to burst out in complete disagreement, as a conversation about prosperity theology emerges. The question was posed: "What physical or material advantages have you been given, and how have you used them to serve God?" It is this kind of thinking that I feel often misleads people to the church, that somehow by acquiring faith, you also acquire the entitlement to material wealth. Anyways, people are naming off their "things" and how these "things" have helped them in their spiritual walks, and then B puts up his hand, as if we were back in grade school and he didn't want to speak out of turn.

"I'm thankful for magic. I can do magic tricks, get kids' attention and tell them about Jesus".

He goes on to explain how magic is like an international language, that everyone "gets" it. Here is a twenty-something-year-old man, recently married, and working as an electrician. And, without fail, he brings a certain refreshment to the class, reminding all of us jaded people that innocence is not only for the naive, but for everyone because that is where we came from.

"Hey Tim, did you know that if you say Allah three times, you stop being a Christian?"

Being 8 years old and very impressionable, I really have no choice but to believe M. He is one of my closest friends and I never doubt his smarts, even though he makes me laugh all the time. Especially when we're at church and hiding behind the wooden pews while some boring adult talks for what seems like forever.

He keeps whispering over: "Allah, Allah, A.....Psych!"

I'm sitting there, unable to hide my anxiety, petrified that at any second, my best friend was going to Hell! He keeps torturing me.

"The CN Tower is T-Allah, Eaton Centre is a big M-Allah, I like to play basket-b-All....Psych!"

Just then, the boring adult stops what he's saying in mid-sentence and glares angrily over at us: "You two, please pay attention!" We both sit very still, but I'm relieved, for I'm thinking that since we both have to keep silent, my best friend has just been saved from Hell.