My first born child was about 3 years old the first time it happened. After coming down the long slide, laughing and giggling, we hurried to the stairs. As I reached my hands out to assist once again, Rhyen pushed me away and said, “No Daddy, I don’t need you. I can do it by myself.”
In that moment, I collapsed; I broke. I think I even cried a tear or two. Thinking back on it though, 20 years now, I wouldn’t have it any other way. You see, that moment, and the years following, were the foundation of my growth and maturity in life. We can either let rejection like this push us into archaic warlord parenting where we command our children to heed our every word, or we can pivot, embrace the opportunity to learn and seek new ways where we all come out as better human beings in the end.
There won’t be any parades for me, our family isn’t going to be in any Hall of Fame, and there won’t be a library named after us. But, with a little luck, a whole lot of prayer, and heapin’ helpin’ of love, I think we have a fighting chance at leaving this world better than we started. God’s grace is abounding in our house and in our hearts. When I stop to think about where we are and where we’ve come from as a family, there is no logical reason how we made it to where we have…except that we have God, and love.
Last year, David L. Mills passed away. He was considered by many as “Father Time” since he designed the Network Time Protocol. You may not know it, but the NTP protocol is responsible for synchronizing time for pretty much…well, everything in the world. He’s kind of a big deal. So if you did in fact find yourself here on this lowly site, searching for Father Time, I am not him. May he rest in peace.
But if you’re looking to perhaps follow along with the occasional mumblings of a man who is grateful for the life Jesus died for, then please feel free to come back and visit every once in a while. I have felt something in my heart recently; something that is unexplainable at the moment but I know that when I write, those unexplainable feelings can sometimes transform into a story. Perhaps that will be of interest to someone, inspire, encourage or maybe it will just be an outlet for me to purge that tugging feeling. We shall see.
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