Last night Kelli and I had some friends over for dinner. When the meal was served my son Andrew, who is four years old, asked if he could say the blessing. We let him. His prayer went something like this:
"Dear Lord, thank You for mommy and daddy and for taking care of us. And Lord, could you kill all of the bad people, because you are bigger than them and can smack them down.
Amen"
He didn't even mention the meal. My buddy Shane wanted to know if we had been reading Psalms lately. It was a pretty funny incident and it got me thinking.
About two days prior, I wanted to do some smiting of my own. My wife and I took the kids to a park. About half way into our stay, Kelli took Abigail and walked across the street to buy snacks at a convenience store. Andrew, under dad's watchful eye, went to the swings. When he got about three steps from the swings, two boys about ten years of age sprinted from behind and took the two swings. Andrew looked across the playground to me and with tears welling in his four-year-old eyes said, "But, I wanted the swings first." I told him that the boys were being jerks but to just wait his turn.
The boys waited until Andrew was about ten yards away from the swings and got off of them and walked away. Andrew then headed back for the swings. They let him get close and then sprinted in front of him again and took them. This time they never even swung. They just stood between him and the swings and as he walked away so did they. Andrew went to the slides and the boys left the swings but kept eyeing Andrew and any time he went for the swings they cut him off.
I was watching all of this from a park bench. I watched Andrew growing more frustrated and I watched the boys laughing as they taunted him. It didn't take long until my fatherly wrath was unleashed. I stormed across the playground. Thankfully the boys had enough sense to flee before the large angry man who was coming for them. I snatched one of the swings and gave it to Andrew. He came over and enjoyed swinging for a while. The whole time I stayed close and made sure that the boys, who were still lurking, left him alone.
I wouldn't have believed five years ago that I could get so angry over kids behavior on a playground. But, as a parent, when somebody messes with your kid, it very quickly stirs up a powerful instinct to protect and defend. We have to be responsible with how we act in those moments of righteous anger, but I believe that the instinct is from God.
In Matthew chapter 18 Jesus says, "if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." Basically Jesus is saying, "mess with my kids and I'll get you." Isn't it cool to realize that God watches over us the same way I was watching over Andrew at the park and that He gets angry when people "mess" with us. In the words of my son, God is bigger than the bad people and can smack them down.
"Dear Lord, thank You for mommy and daddy and for taking care of us. And Lord, could you kill all of the bad people, because you are bigger than them and can smack them down.
Amen"
He didn't even mention the meal. My buddy Shane wanted to know if we had been reading Psalms lately. It was a pretty funny incident and it got me thinking.
About two days prior, I wanted to do some smiting of my own. My wife and I took the kids to a park. About half way into our stay, Kelli took Abigail and walked across the street to buy snacks at a convenience store. Andrew, under dad's watchful eye, went to the swings. When he got about three steps from the swings, two boys about ten years of age sprinted from behind and took the two swings. Andrew looked across the playground to me and with tears welling in his four-year-old eyes said, "But, I wanted the swings first." I told him that the boys were being jerks but to just wait his turn.
The boys waited until Andrew was about ten yards away from the swings and got off of them and walked away. Andrew then headed back for the swings. They let him get close and then sprinted in front of him again and took them. This time they never even swung. They just stood between him and the swings and as he walked away so did they. Andrew went to the slides and the boys left the swings but kept eyeing Andrew and any time he went for the swings they cut him off.
I was watching all of this from a park bench. I watched Andrew growing more frustrated and I watched the boys laughing as they taunted him. It didn't take long until my fatherly wrath was unleashed. I stormed across the playground. Thankfully the boys had enough sense to flee before the large angry man who was coming for them. I snatched one of the swings and gave it to Andrew. He came over and enjoyed swinging for a while. The whole time I stayed close and made sure that the boys, who were still lurking, left him alone.
I wouldn't have believed five years ago that I could get so angry over kids behavior on a playground. But, as a parent, when somebody messes with your kid, it very quickly stirs up a powerful instinct to protect and defend. We have to be responsible with how we act in those moments of righteous anger, but I believe that the instinct is from God.
In Matthew chapter 18 Jesus says, "if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." Basically Jesus is saying, "mess with my kids and I'll get you." Isn't it cool to realize that God watches over us the same way I was watching over Andrew at the park and that He gets angry when people "mess" with us. In the words of my son, God is bigger than the bad people and can smack them down.
1 comment:
Andrew is such an adorable little boy...and smart too...
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