Once Upon a Time

By: Adam McClendon

Adam is the Lead Pastor at Springhill Church and the Director of New Line Ministries.

The other day, I came home.  My son, who just started second grade, was out back playing and my wife asked me to read a story he had written for school.  Second grade stories are incredible, so I was thrilled until I began reading.  His story was about our moving to another state two months earlier.  Here is his story:

 

Once upon a time, when I got home from school, my dad called me over and my sisters.  I thought to myself, “I bet my sisters did something.”  When we sat down, my dad said, “We are moving.”  I got so mad, but when I came down, I wondered, “Why do we have to move?”  I asked my dad, “Why do we got to move?”  He said, “Because I feel like that’s where Jesus wants us to go.”  Then he said, “You got to go.”  So, when we moved and we went into that house and looked around, it was time to go to bed.  I thought, “This house is a good house for me and my sisters and parents.”

Aspects of this story make me proud and others make me sad.  Here’s why:

1. He assumed his sisters did something wrong, and not him.  Now, that’s funny.

2. My 7-year-old understood that the call to follow Jesus was more important than comfort.

3. He didn’t give in to his feelings but processed.

4. I didn’t realize that he was still processing.  I shouldn’t assume so much.

5. What brought him a degree of peace after moving was knowing that his family was secure in a good environment.

Watching your family sacrifice for decisions you as a parent make is incredibly difficult.  I’m thankful, in this circumstance, my child realized the decision was made out of a desire to follow Christ.  He’s struggling with the consequences of my “good” decisions and not my sinful ones.  Nevertheless, it is still a process for him.  My son is still working through the pain of his move, and, as his father, I pray that God gives me wisdom in leading him to see Christ in this midst of it all.

At the same time, I watch my son in the midst of his struggle and realize that I can learn from him.  Just as I have placed my son in a position he doesn’t understand and have asked him to trust me, God as my Heavenly Father occasionally puts me in similar situations.  These situations are often painful from my limited perspective and bring me to question, “Why?”  As my Father takes me down life’s uncertain roads, I pray that God will help me to respond by trusting him even when it doesn’t make sense to me, believing that the home at the end of the line is worth the journey.