Learning from the Experts

"Look at that trash," I thought to myself as we headed out to school. A second look assured me that was not trash. "That's a fawn!" I exclaimed.

"Huh?" grunted our youngest from the backseat.

"It's a fawn! Right there on the sidewalk! It's just lying there!"

"It's dead?"

"No! Its head is up. But it might be hit."

I immediately began dialing Animal Control. Once I was able to get through, they directed me to the Fish and Game Commission. As I excitedly explained our discovery to the officer on the other end of the line, my mind was racing. What if the fawn tried to cross the busy street? What if children walking to school tried to touch it? What if a dog out for its walk got away from its owner and...? How do I get it into my truck? Where on earth do I take it?

"Fawns are so tiny, they can't keep up. So, Mama leaves her little one in a place she believes they will be safe. Mamas usually return within eight hours of leaving their fawns." It wasn't the officer's words as much as her tone that was so reassuring. As I thanked her and hung up, my mind began racing again. How is the side of a busy road safe? She certainly gave me an answer quickly, though. How long had the fawn been there already? Surely, Fish and Game know what they're talking about. Eight hours! Anything could happen in eight hours! If Mama was going about her business at night, though, she should be back soon. 

"How do they know?" came the voice from the backseat again. And that's when I realized what a teachable moment this was, a moment that was less about a fawn and more about what this encounter was teaching our son.

"They study does," I answered, and from there used the opportunity to teach this young man the importance of paying attention. "If we want to be like Jesus, we have to read our Bibles. We watch the disciples around us, ones we believe to be experts, ones who demonstrate Christlikeness. Like the expert on the other end of the line --we've never met her, but we know who she works for; we know she is where she is because she has knowledge and experience. We do what the experts tell us, and we imitate them. To think like a doe, the Fish and Game Commission studies does. To think like Jesus, we study Jesus." The discussion went on for a few more minutes with our son reiterating and affirming the points I was making. "That's how she got to be an expert, right? She studied does," he said in his tentative but perceptive way.  "And then she made me feel okay about what was happening. People won't feel okay about Jesus unless I know what I'm talking about, right?"

Hours later, as he hopped into the backseat, our young man immediately asked for an update. "The fawn was gone by the time I got back," I said. "It's all good! You gotta study a doe to think like a doe."

"Maaaahm," he crooned, "you gotta study Jesus to think like Jesus."