On making my son cry

For those of you keeping track of the goings on in my family, you know that last August, we kicked out our oldest son because he just didn't want to follow some simple house rules.

Since then, we have maintained, what I thought, was a pretty good relationship. It's amazing how relaxed you can be when you are no longer trying to actively parent your child and can just hang out with them.

Now, my son has been through various struggles both financially and emotionally due to the situation that he has brought upon himself. He has learned from some of them, but as far as we've been able to tell, he still had a lot of growing up to do.

In short, I think he's where most 20 year olds are if they don't have a strong internal drive or a strong external driver - Just kinda floundering.

So, last Friday, my wife came up with the bright idea of buying him a car as his is about to blow up any day now (it's 19 years old, and has over 180k miles on it).

My first response was not only "No", but "Hell NO!" He can't even take care of the one he has! He isn't doing anything to deserve a new car! I will NOT bail him out again!

That's when the Lord stepped in.
He asked me, "Don't I give good gifts to you?"

"Well, yes, of course You do, but..."

"And do you deserve them?"

"no, but!"

"So, I give you good gifts that you don't deserve."

/sigh, "Yeah..."

"And you won't do the same for your son?"

That's when I knew what I would be doing on Saturday. Long story short, we found a steal of a deal for what we were willing to spend, got it checked out by a mechanic, and agreed to buy it.

Yesterday, I called my son and asked if he could meet me at the house. He agreed. I put the car in the garage so he wouldn't suspect anything, and when he arrived, I called my wife so she could give him the news.

Oh, I must be a bad influence on her, because she actually lead him down the primrose path for a bit. She had him go out to the garage (I followed) and was wanting him to take home some box. Well, he was looking all around for it but didn't see it. Then she asked if he saw a silver car in the garage, to which he replied in the affirmative.

Then she said, "It's yours." After an initial "No way!", my son broke down crying and hugging me. It turns out, it was a very opportune time for such a gift.

It is good to give gifts to our children, whether they deserve it or not. I'm glad I followed the Lord's leading, and I'm glad that the Lord gives us good gifts, whether we deserve them or not.

To God be the glory.