I met a guy named Chris the other day. Chris told me about his six year-old son who loves to play baseball. It was easy to see that Chris loved his son and that he wants to be a good dad.Chris mentioned that his next door neighbor has a son who likes to Jet Ski. His neighbor's son had already burned the engine out on one Jet Ski, and Chris couldn’t understand why the dad keeps shelling out thousands of dollars on this kid. Chris told me his neighbor is divorced, and doesn’t spend much time with his son… but he keeps buying his kid stuff.
I can never understand when and where and why God drops me into conversations like this one with Chris. I picture God chuckling and saying, “Let’s see what Vann does with this one.” Chris has already told me that when he came home recently to pitch batting practice, his 6 year-old smacked him on the forehead with a line drive. “Why didn’t you get out of the way, Dad?” Chris smiled as he told me that story. It was clear he dearly loved his son. And this other dad wants to buy his kid everything… and not give his son what he really needs . . . his time.
There’s this one student I know, his name is Tim. And whenever Tim sees me at church he comes over and gives me a hug. And when he hugs me, for just a moment, Tim puts his head on my shoulder. It’s like he’s thanking me for this moment, for a little bit of my time.
