Sweet Tooth Wisdom

If you know my wife you know she's...well...cheap!  If you want to be politically correct then feel free to call her frugal.  If you know me then you know that I'm...well...let's just say I'm a little more free with money.  I praise the Lord for my wife though because her frugality has made it possible for us to homeschool our children and save money at the same time on a teacher's salary.

Anyway, on the way home from gathering with our brothers and sisters in Christ this morning I had a hankering (that's a good Wilkes County word for you) for some ice cream.  Amy gives me the look when I tell her.  You know, the look that says, "You're going to spend all of our grocery budget money on your sweet tooth aren't you?" Well we get to Food Lion and I take Thomas and Olivia in with me and we come out with my ice cream, Thomas' ice cream, Olivia's ice cream, some Little Debbie Cakes, and my "wise" selection.

So we get into the car and Thomas hands Amy our "wise" selection of Godiva Dark Chocolate, which Amy loves.  I got into the driver's seat and with a piece of chocolate in her mouth Amy looks at me and in a way that let's me know she's onto me says, "It's hard for me to be upset about the ice cream with my chocolate isn't it?"  I just smiled and said, "The wisdom of Solomon baby, the wisdom of Solomon!"

I love our family.

Father and Son

I took Thomas with me today to play basketball with our new church league team.  As I played I looked over at Thomas sitting quietly, observing his father playing ball.  I realized that the skills I acquired from an ill spent youth were on display for my son to see.  His father could shoot, dribble, pass, rebound, and play defense with a fair level of effectiveness.  I wonder if he will ever realize that I once had such a great desire to make him a “ball player”?  I once wanted to give him all the skills I had developed and more and watch him bask in the glory that our culture affords those who excel in these games.  I looked at my son today with great sadness realizing the glory of what God was doing in our lives as father and son.  The sadness in knowing that all these skills I once desired to give him I now hide from him in fear.  Fear that those skills may one day open the doors of sin in his life the same way they did mine.  The sadness isn’t in him missing the sin, but in missing the joy one can feel if they do these things for the glory of God.  The sadness is knowing that I, his father, cannot think of a way to give him these skills while at the same time protecting him from the sin.  I guess the sadness is in my recognition that as a man who has not been discipled in my life I am unable to navigate these waters with the experience that can give my son the joy of sports without the sin that can come from being good at them.  I praise God for His great mercy in that my weakness as a father has meant that my son has thus far not been distracted by these games in such a way that would allow them to become an idol later in his life, but has instead been focused on learning about who his Creator is and what He expects from him.