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.