Baku-gone?

I have one of those “You know your children were paying attention when…” stories. And, no…it’s not about Samuel!

Our older boys – Caleb, Samuel, and to a lesser extent, Isaac – are into Bakugan. I mean, really into Bakugan. It’s a game based on an Anime-style (Japanese) cartoon that crosses marbles with Pokemon and Transformers…more or less. You roll plastic balls onto special cards and they pop open into creatures that do “battle” using information on those cards. The boys – mainly Caleb – trade both the balls and cards and are constantly asking to go to the store when they have money. Caleb even got me to take he and Samuel to a “Bakugan Training Camp” (can you say, “Marketing Ploy”???) at Toys-R-Us here in Amherst. It can be a bit nuts.

So, as we are sitting in church Saturday night listening to the sermon on what makes an “idol” in today’s society, Darcy passes a note down the pew which simply reads, “Caleb – Bakugan: idol?” He simply smiled and tucked the note away somewhere, dropping the issue.

Almost.

On Sunday, Caleb was watching Samuel show off his sketch book to some family friends. When they came to a sketch of a Bakugan – there were many! – he would scream and run away. It was goofy, somewhat obnoxious, and a bit distracting. It didn’t take me long to figure out that he was “fleeing”, and so I did not dissuade him (although, I did ask him to “flee” more quietly) It was during our bedtime routing that I realized he had gone the whole day without playing, dwelling on, or even mentioning Bakugan. For a boy who is never far away from Bakugan – if you know my sons and Star Wars, you get the idea – this was a significant accomplishment.

Caleb took the lesson Pastor brought us and applied it to his life. While this only lasted one day, he saw that it is possible to get past those things we think are so important. And I believe he will be blessed by the experience. If only we could all be so bold and to take God at His word and begin applying it to our lives…