A Beacon in the Night

On the way to church today, during these wonderful storms we got to enjoy, my son yells from the back on the van "Mama! Look Church! I see the steeple!!!" I just smiled with joy that my son KNEW to look for the steeple when you can't see anything else. And he began the 20 question game, what is a steeple, why do we have them, why is it white, why is there a cross... (you get the picture).
And I first started with "What is a steeple?". He knows its called a steeple, but he wanted to know WHAT it is. I did give him the kid version, but this is the actual definition of WHAT a steeple is.

 "A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire (is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building,particularly a church tower.). Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure. They may be stand-alone structures, or incorporated into the entrance or center of the building." -Wikipedia

Then we started to talk about Why we have them, and I told him originally they where made so you could find a church from anywhere in the towns a looong time ago. The steeple's main purpose, at that time, everything from that time from institutions to education revolved around the church (not so much now a days). The steeple was built to be the tallest structure in town, clearly there for all to see and be reminded of the Church's importance in their lives.
He did give me a funny look, and I told him its like what a light house is to ships. When ships are out to sea and looking for land, they look for a light house to know where land is, or safe harbor. People looked for steeple back in the day to find churches. The light went on at that point (LOL)...
Then the hard part of the game: "why is there a cross on top?" I started with "Well because the Cross is the symbol of the church, because Christ died on the cross to save us.". "But if God died he won't be a live?" then I explained the God died, rose from the grave, and is ALIVE and in HEAVEN. Then we broke into song  "MY GODS NOT DEAD HES ALIVE ROARING LIKE A LION" :)

 "And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death —
        even death on a cross!" ~Phil 2:8 NIV

But as a mother who is trying to raise a child in today's world to know that when its raining and storms are making it hard to see light, he can find a the church, he looks for the cross. And knows that is safety! Makes every hard day worth every moment! 
Have a BLESSED Week :)

Blessings,

Tina