At church last Sunday, ” JIEJIE WAI JIA, WHAT DOES HEAVEN LOOK LIKE?”
“YAH, WHAT DO ANGELS LOOK LIKE UH?”
” ARE THERE FLOWERS IN HEAVEN?”
“OF COURSE THERE ARE FLOWERS IN HEAVEN!!”
“JIE JIE WAI JIA, HOW COME BIBLE HAS THE S-E-X WORD? MEANS WHAT?”
“JIEJIE WAI JIA YOU GOT BOYFRIEND OR NOT?”
Kids say the darnedest things sometimes, don’t they. And in the worst form of Singlish, ha. But it makes me love them all the more.
“Children, okay, I need you to pay attention so I can answer you. Nobody knows exactly how heaven looks like, but the bible does give us some clues. Well, we know there will be a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God. -Rev 22:1 We also know there will be on either side of the river, the tree of life -Rev 22:2″
“AND RAINBOW. JIEJIE WAIJIA, YOU FORGOT. HEAVEN GOT RAINBOW!!”
“Yes, dear, there’s also a rainbow in heaven. (“… and there was a rainbow around the throne- Rev4:3″)
No one has seen heaven before, children, but as we read the bible, we have some sort of an idea. Heaven is a happy place, where God’ll wipe every tear from each eye.(Rev 21)”
“THEN WHY DOES THE POWERPOINT SLIDE HAVE THE S-E-X WORD?”
” That’s because it says those who are sexually immoral cannot enter heaven.”
“WHAT IS SEXUALLY IMMORAL?”
I looked at my children’s faces and realised that my 7-year olds were pure as pure can be. Only 1 boy seemed to know what it meant because he was giggling and sniggering.
“Okay children, I know this sounds very yucky and you all don’t like to talk about holding hands and having boyfriends and girlfriends right?”
“EWWWWW!!!” Everybody was squirmish.
“But when you get to my age, you will have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, or you will want to, okay. That means, you can only have ONE at a time. Can you have 2 boyfriends or 2 girlfriends at the same time? Can your mummy have 2 ‘daddies’, or your daddy have 2 ‘mummies’?”
They were all shouting NOOOOOO with such conviction and volume I thought it would bring the whole building down. That was the closest I could get to explaining what “sexual immorality” was to the 7-year olds. I definitely was not ready to explain it in any more detail.
Children, have such clear senses of right and wrong. I remembered the times my friends confessed to me about their two-timing, the times they enjoyed physical intimacy without commitment. How did we stray so far? And I always told myself not to judge, for it could happen to any of us, too.
Then finally my girl G stood up in front of the class and shouted, “JIEJIE WAIJIA YOU GOT BOYFRIEND OR NOT?”
I wanted very much to correct her english but I said NO, DON’T HAVE. REALLY, MY DEAR, very firmly and very crisply so I could get on with the lesson.
At the end, they each drew what they thought heaven looked like, and were each so eager to show me their drawings…
Trees of life beside the river
“… a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God.” -Rev 22:1
IK showing me his drawing and explaining it to me
Rainbow!
Haha… ducks and trees… (Not sure about ducks in heaven but ah well…)
Fruits of the spirit, and a rainbow bridge over the river!
I never knew angels had long hair and bangs, heh. 
A river of purple crystals and lots of trees and flowers flanking the paths of heaven
And the one I liked the most,
They draw better than me!