Perhaps the second most special day of my life!

I say that because something truly amazing (at least to me) happened in church today.  Here's the story:

So today was a wonderful day!  We had nursery duty at church this morning and enjoyed loving on some sweet babes.  We had 3 sweet little 12 to 18 month boys who were just precious!  One little boy reminded me so much of Evan because of his light red hair, blue eyes, and cheerful personality!  We do nursery duty at the early service so that we can still attend our regular 11:15 service.  Today was a special youth day at our church, and our youth greeted attendees as they drove into the parking lot and entered the church.  They were wearing their "Advance" bright green T-shirts and were just truly an inspiration!  The message was brought by a special guest speaker to go along with the series "At the Movies."  It showed how God's message can really be found all around us...yes, even in the secular movies produced by Hollywood!  They showed a clip from the movie "Up" and I really want to see that movie! 

Anyway, the preacher's message was just a beautiful telling of the fundamental Christian story of salvation through grace, and at the end, the preacher led a salvation prayer for anyone in the congregation that desired to accept Christ as their saviour.  After the prayer, the preacher emotionally asked if those who had said the prayer would raise their hands.  The preacher counted over 200 hands raised, but I got very teary when I looked down and saw my little 3 year old son raising his tiny little hand.  Wow!  That is humbling.  Now, I am not so naive to think that he really knows what salvation is all about, but he knew and listened closely enough to know when the preacher said he could lower his hand and he kept it up until then.  I know that he has begun to realize that Jesus truly "loves" him by seeing His love through us, his devoted parents!  He stated, not questioned, to me one day recently "Mommy, you love Jesus."  It wasn't like he was asking me, but more like he was stating a fact that he had noticed!  Children really have a special way of reaching and touching our hearts!  It's like they are built-in receivers of God's messages to us all!  I just hope we can continue to nurture Evan's love of Jesus! 

So when do children reach the age of "accountability" when they are ready to "accept" the gift of salvation?  I think the age is different for all people.  For example, one of my earliest memories of church was sitting beside my biological mother one Sunday and "feeling" led to go to the altar when the preacher gave the call.  I couldn't have been more than 4 or 5 at the time, and I just felt this strong pull, but I was too shy to move.  I am so thankful that my biological mother loved me enough to take me to church.  I also remember leading some kids I taught in Children's Church in the salvation prayer one Sunday because they expressed an interest in knowing Jesus as their saviour!