[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Monday, June 17, 2013

[Paul]

Well folks, according to the calendar, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere, summer will arrive this Friday, whereas you in New Zealand will have your winter months.  Well, the seasons change yearly from spring to summer to fall and back to winter before the cycle begins all over again.  I hope and pray that, by God's matchless grace and His providential care, that your day is going well or has gone well.

A writer and Dad himself, Ron Mehl, wrote today's article some years ago entitled "Too Busy," rendered as follows:

I'll never forget the day I looked out of our living room and saw Mark, our youngest, walking home from school in the driving rain.  Mark was in the third grade, and he was allowed to ride his bike to his grade school, located right within our subdivision.  I happened to be home from the church early that day, and I was sitting in an easy chair by the window.  I looked outside at the pouring rain and saw my boy in the distance, trudging his way through the downpour.  His clothing was absolutely drenched and his hair was plastered against his head.  I opened the door for him, and he looked up at me with a little smile, his face red from the cold.

"Hi, Dad!" he said.  "You're home early."

"Hi, Son," I replied.  "You're soaked to the skin."

"Yeah, I know."

"Umm, Mark, you know, if you'd ride your bike, you'd get home faster.  You wouldn't get so wet."

He looked at me rather sheepishly as rivulets of rain streamed from his hair down across his face.  "I know, Dad."

I was puzzled.  "Well, Son, if you know, why in the world didn't you do it?"

Then he hung his head, just a bit, and it hit me.  Boy, did I feel like crawling under a table and hiding for a while.  He had told me several times before that his bike had a flat tire.  He had asked me, "Dad, could you please fix it for me?"

"Sure, Son," I'd promised him.  "Don't worry.  I'll get after it right away."  But I never did.  I'd forgotten all about it.

As he stood there in the entryway, dripping and shivering, he could have said, "I couldn't ride my bike today because someone promised me he'd fix it and never did." He would have had every right to say that.  But he didn't.  What he did say remains printed indelibly on this dad's heart.

"Aw, Dad, I know how busy you are and everything, and I just didn't want to bother you with it again."

I thought, Son, your dad isn't too busy; he's just too selfish.

For me, a bike tire was no big deal--just one more thing on a long "to do" list.  But for Mark, it meant more than transportation.  It meant more than a long walk home in the rain.  It meant trusting his father to meet every need.

Wow, but this article really hit me right between the eyes, even though I'm no dad because I'm single and never married.  But the statement comes to the minds of some, if not all, of us:  Lord, if you get me out of this situation or circumstance, I will serve You all the rest of my life, or I will promise to contact a certain individual by phone or email, and never follow through.  Of course, God, in His infinite knowledge of who we are through and through, knows that we would do that, but sometimes that nagging guilty feeling comes along that we should do what we said we would do, but somehow never get around to it.  Do I have a witness here? I've done it more times than I'd care to admit.

Anyway hope this article ministered to you today.

And now until tomorrow when, Lord willing another daily thought message will be presented, may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last evil days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul