It takes a village... This Summer, my 17 year old son started watching a former TV series on Netflix. Numb3rs. The main character is David and played by the actor I remember as Fleischman, the quirky doctor on Northern Exposure. David is a G Man who solves crimes. His brother is a nerdy mathematician who helps him solve the crimes based on numerical theories. David’s professor is Dr. Larry Fleinhardt, a retired Physics Professor, who always shows up at the right time to offer his insight into the crime using his own wisdom and theories of physics. My son loves the show. He loves science and math. And thank you Mr. McMahan in sixth grade who help flip that switch on for him. Recently, I was sitting on the sofa while he had the tv on. I was absorbed in checking email and such. He paused the TV screen and said, “Mom – you always wanted to know what I believe about God…. Well here it is..” Parenthetically, I must say, I have not ALWAYS wanted to know about his belief in God. I trusted the process. We raised him in a church that I love. He was baptized into the faith. And somehow that community of faith would soon produce a young man who had some good foundation in the pillars of faith and reason. Our own church covenant states that we as a community will be sensitive to God’s voice in various ways. And it was no coincidence that the authors of that covenant made certain that those ways included a phrase that said, “Sensitive to God’s voice through other sources (as well as the bible, art, nature, etc).” So – I knew that with such a covenant, he would come into faith on his own terms. Certainly though, this comment that I ALWAYS wanted to know about his understanding of God was his own little projection from whatever stirred within him about his own musings about religion, God, and faith. But when he made this statement, I took this as an invitation for me to peak into his current musings. When he began playing this scene from Numb3rs – quietly, I was relieved. All of the nurturing of his community of faith and excellent education in science were all coming together. All the Religious Education that I had afforded him as a baby through these years, the community of faith that has raised him to ask questions, and the good science education of Decatur Schools were now culminated in this one scene between Dr. Fleinhardt and David. As my son completes his senior year this year, I am grateful for this village.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 03:36:10 +0000
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