My husband and I were big fans of the show “How I Met Your Mother”. On one particular episode, Barney’s friends were going to surprise him by introducing him to his childhood hero, The Karate Kid. Barney is bitterly disappointed when confronted with Ralph Macchio insisting that he is not The Karate Kid and the movie is really about Johnny played by William Zabka.
If you have ever actually seen The Karate Kid, you will know that Johnny is the bully from the rival dojo who “sweeps the leg” to injury Ralph Macchio’s character.
This describes perfectly how I felt yesterday afternoon watching my eldest play. We has just come back from church and Z was playing with her stuffed animals. She placed Spot, her favorite animal in “jail”. I asked her what Spot had done to land himself in the clink.
She replied, “He didn’t do anything wrong, Mommy. He was just telling people about Jesus.”
Then she stage whispered conspiratorially at her sister, “Baby Bird, if you tell people about Jesus, they may not like it, and you may end up in jail.”
True words kid, true words.
However; I find it really disturbing that playing out this scenario, my daughter picked for herself the role of Roman Centurion rather than Early Church Martyr. I think she may have come down on the wrong side of history on this one.
We went back over her Sunday School lesson emphasizing that it is a noble thing to be persecuted for your faith, but I am not sure at four she is ready to appreciate this truth. I did hear her tell her sister later, “You might end up in jail for it, but you should probably tell people about Jesus anyways.”
At least this is a step away from being the jailer.
familydoctormom 
Children are wiser than we think!