Make-believe is fun. Every child loves to pretend. That’s why a little boy will throw a stick on his shoulder and march like a soldier, and a little girl will cradle her favorite doll in her arms like a loving mother.

C.S. Lewis, author of children’s books, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” believed that fantasy stories taught true lessons about life. Thus Lewis told stories about lions and princes that taught lessons about sacrifice and salvation. He hoped that his stories would ring true in the hearts of the children who read them. Then when they got older and they heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, the truth of it would clash and clang in their souls with joy.

When my son was about 5 years old, that bell began to “ding” for the first time.

We left our son with my parents to baby-sit for a week, while my family and I went on a vacation to New York City.

One day, our son hopped up in his grandmother’s lap and asked a blunt question. “What’s good about getting old?”

She thought a minute and then said, “Well, you can retire and you don’t have to go to work anymore.”

Not satisfied with that answer, he demanded, “What else is good about it?”

She thought a minute and then said, “You learn more about God, and get to know God better.”

His eyes grew wide in amazement and he asked, “You mean all that stuff they say about God at church is really true?”

“Yes,” his grandmother told him with a chuckle. “That stuff is really true.”

The Bible teaches parents (and grandparents) to constantly tell the stories of our faith to the next generation. “Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:7, HCSB). If we do, our children will eventually learn that stuff is really true.

(Copyright 2011 by Bob Rogers. Email: brogers@fbcrincon.com. Read my blog at www.holyhumor.blogspot.com.)