gregstier.org

Current Music

• 4th Avenue Jones:
  Stereo: The Evolution of Hiprocksoul
• Skillet:
  Comatose
• Casting Pearls:
  Casting Pearls
• Tobymac:
  Welcome to Diverse City

Current Books

• Leonardo Boff:
  Holy Trinity, Perfect Community
• John MacArthur:
  The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception
• W. Chan Kim, Renée Mauborgne:
  Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
• Alan Gotthardt:
  The Eternity Portfolio (Generous Giving)

11 Comments for '“What are you going to do with me when I die daddy?”'

1. On November 20, 2006 @ 6:29 pm BigDaddy said:

   • Don’t you just love these moments of truth that the "raising kids" books forgot to prepare us for. And why do the moms get to be so good at it already? Thanks for being authentic. I get in trouble for being too authentic and open sometimes, but God always pulls me out of the clay. Have a good Thanksgiving, and rest. Oh look… my sandles are dusty.  Sending up some "super dad" prayers for you this week as you lead your family through this loss. I love you man.

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2. On November 20, 2006 @ 6:34 pm BigDaddy said:

   • sorry, I have to bust my self before any one else does. Yes "sandals" is misspelled, Big Daddy forgot to spell check!

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3. On November 20, 2006 @ 9:12 pm Becky said:

   • Wow Greg,That had to be a tough situation.I think it would be very hard to explain death and not make Jeremy scared.Anyways I hope things get better.Hey maybe you can have my dog shadow.~Becky~

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4. On November 21, 2006 @ 9:35 am Tim Rohm said:

   • Well, I’ve got a year’s experience exlplaining death to a 2-1/2 year old, only it is the death of my wife/ her mother.  Now that she is 3-1/2, the questions are only getting harder the more she understands.  For a long time the questions were more about where:  Where’s mommie?  Heaven.  Where’s heaven?  With Jesus.  Where’s Jesus? .  .  .   You get the picture. Then it began to be about possibilities.  Can we go see her? Can she come see us?  Can she meet us at the beach?   Daddy, if I snuggle real close to you, can mommie come back and sleep beside us in the bed? The hardest thing is she usually thinks of these questions half way to daycare.  I try to answer her as direct and honest as possible.  She really accepts my answers at face value.  I drop her off at daycare where she starts playing with the other kids.  I start my drive to work in tears, asking God "where’s her mommie at?  I know the answer, I just want to hear it from you one more time."  My fear is now that her general question have turned to the perpetual "why?"  No matter how good your answer, you get another why.  I can do one or two rounds of "Because in heaven mommie ain’t sick no more."  But that’s all I’ve got. Really, the best I’ve got for her is what I tell myself.  It’s ok to miss mommie, and its ok to cry.  Jesus takes care of mommie, and God cares for everything.  And we have a little cry together.  She really is a good hugger. It’s ok to cry about your dog, too.  And let your child know that God cares for all the animals.  I don’t think them knowing all the details about where the body ends up is as important as them understanding that the most important part of nature is the eternal part, the spirit.  When Lily asks about her mommie, I answer in terms of the spirit.  I don’t think she yet understands that her body is in the ground.  That was a little much for a 2-1/2 year old.  She know’s that Mommies in heaven, and she will tell you that promptly.  The bible doesn’t give a lot of details about animals and eternity, but it does say that there will be animals there as part of the new earth!  I think the best we can do for our kids is assure them that God cares, and God has it all under control.  It’s ok to tell them that this world is coming to ashes, but it’s more important to teach them how the Spirit is eternal, hovered over the waters of Creation, and will empower us to victory over the ashes of this present age in eternity. Pray for me as I handle the Why’s! 

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5. On November 21, 2006 @ 10:39 am John Byrne said:

   • Nice job Greg!! Remind me not to let you counsel my kid. Of course I say that because I have done enough dmage on my own and I don’t need your help. lol

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6. On November 21, 2006 @ 3:02 pm Sammi Basinger said:

   •               hey Greg.  Enjoyed this one.  It is hard to explain to young ones the concept of death.  But adding that putting his faith in God and that no matter what physical state God will have him and his dog in peace at heaven with him would be great for a young Jeremey. ;)  Cremation esspecially is hard to get through to a young child because he may consider it cruel. It’s a scary conversation esspecially if he grows older and a family member (human) is in death.  But it is something we must place in the minds of our children so that we can reherse the ‘where babies come from’ talk without worry of the revisiting subject                              much love                                     Sammi

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7. On November 21, 2006 @ 7:07 pm faith said:

   • Love you Greg. You are such an inspiration to me. Plus your son is so cute!

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8. On November 21, 2006 @ 8:47 pm Some Body said:

   • heh. My brother is 7, we still get some weird questions. But i remember those! He was also sooo observant (sp?)! I remember, we were leaving McDonalds, and Tim (my brother) said, "Dad, aren’t you driving the wrong way? The arrow is pointing the other way!" Of course, he only saw the arrow visible, but he was a little tike then! Yeah for Debbie! I am personally wondering what she said. . . that’d be quite intresting.  Ooh well. Yeah, that kind of stuff is hard! Have fun with it! In a couple years you will be saying, "Do you remember when Shadow died? And. . . " And it’ll be all on big joke.  .  . (But this time Jeremy will get it, and think it’s funny) Well, like I said, I won’t be able to go this year, but I’ll keep you in my prayers!

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9. On November 21, 2006 @ 8:50 pm Some Body said:

   • okay, take that back. You might not want to say ‘remember when Shadow died’ in a few years, it might a bit longer. . . but it will make great memories!

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10. On February 13, 2007 @ 8:53 pm Tonya said:

    • that is too cute.. id prolly cry to if i was told i was gonna be put into the ground when i die…

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11. On March 15, 2008 @ 7:04 pm BigFatPonyDancer84 said:

    • wow..that’s hilarious..good job greg

      ~*~Elenore~*~

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