by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book: Love is…) Books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and www.patlambchristianauthor.com

Train up a child…

Dads have Trying Times

         Dads who are serious about raising good children will have trials from “cradle to grave”.  Here is one example of a trial our youngest son, Charles, experienced on Mother’s Day.

         Trying to be a good dad, Charles had taken his seven-yr.-old son, Garrett, to buy a present for his mom.  On Mother’s Day, he and Garrett got up early and happily got the gift, took it out of the box, and put it on the porch.  It was a storage unit for the lawn chair cushions.  Mom would really like this!  Garrett excitedly called for his mom to come and see her surprise.

         Garrett’s mom, Kelly, was hurrying around as usual and didn’t want to spoil the occasion by waiting until she could check the younger brother,  23-month old Spencer.  “I couldn’t have been away from him more than ten minutes,” she said.  I didn’t want to spoil the moment, but I kept thinking, “It’s too quiet upstairs.”  She excused herself as quickly as possible and ran upstairs to check on Spencer.  Spencer, who had not been invited to the fun time, had created some fun of his own.  She found him sitting in the bathroom floor splashing in water and having a great time!

         Spencer had been flushing one thing after another down the toilet.  Water was everywhere!  It had even run down into the master bedroom closet and ruined the sheetrock on the walls!  The rest of the day was spent trying to snake out the water line and clean up the mess.  A Dixie cup was found, and a toothbrush was never found.  Finally, it was decided that the toilet would have to be replaced.  A trip was made to town to buy a new toilet.  The new toilet was installed and the sheetrock was removed from the closet walls.  

         I couldn’t resist asking Charles, “Did you get mad at him?”  I was relieved to hear the answer, “Naw.  He’s just too little to understand what he did.”  

         Charles had worked 72 hours the week before at his job.  He had looked forward to a pleasant weekend at home.  This event was certainly a trial of his love for family, and I am happy to say that he came through just fine! I suggested that he would probably have many more such trials before the boys become adults and he assured me that he knew this to be true.

         Although this trial seems bad enough, truth is that as the children grow older, the kinds of trials may change to be heart-rending trials, not just trials that require physical stamina. 

         Hats off to all the dads this Father’s Day, who are surviving or have survived trials of many sorts, because of their love for their children.  May they reflect the love of our Heavenly Father in their daily lives as they are constantly being observed.

Son’s prayer:  Dear God, Make me just like my daddy.

Dad’s prayer:  Dear God, Make me the man my son thinks I am.