several years ago....jalil and i were riding somewhere. i was listening to a Kirk Franklin CD...or rather the CD was playing and since it wasnt one of my favorite selections...I really was paying attention to it. I knew something was happening and I knew their was sound but at the time...I couldnt tell you what it was. Jalil quietly said...'that is really mean'. Still...only paying HALF attention to the world around me, I asked what he was talking about and he said 'those people...on the song'. Still had no clue.

several days later the same situation happened.

now understand...when jalil communicates, he communicates with the first half of the conversation already being played out in his head. it takes a minute but most times I have to find out exactly where we are going with our conversations

i asked him 'Jalil...I dont understand...WHAT is mean'...Looking out the window he said 'the people who beat up Jesus'.

i drove awhile longer still trying to piece it all together in my head until he hit the rewind button....on the Interlude before the song Dont Cry was an enactment of Jesus walking through the city before they crucified him. Its quick...maybe 3 minutes long, if that... but once I heard it...I knew Jalil was right. And then I listened to it AGAIN...hearing it from Jalil's perspective (as that of a child...a child who has language and comprehension issues, been tested twice for autism but loves God like nobodies business) and then I cried. I cried like a baby the entire way to wherever we were going. I cried later on that night. I even feel tears NOW.

sometimes I get a little jaded and my relationship with God is not what I want and need it to be. I can quote a scripture. I can say a little something something when it comes to the Bible ( thank you Ms. Maupin's from Sunday School all those years). And I can try to explain faith but sometimes...I slip a lil bit off track. So that is my wish for this Easter Weekend...that everyone's relationship with God is renewed...or born, even. But if we come to Him as that of a child ...just imagine what can happen...

happy Easter! muah...