UNDER MY ROOF
In 1996, we built our first home. We'd had homes before that, but they were built by other people and lived in by other people and made to look like other people. Now, we were building one that would be just ours, from the ground up. It was exciting and scary and fun and new and a lot of other things all rolled into one. We would load the kids into the van and make the trek out to Pearland several times a week, just to see if we could tell if anything was different. We had a blast watching the structure go up little by little.
I remember one day receiving a frantic phone call from Susan. She had snuck out that day at lunch to check on the progress, only to find that this particular day they were installing all the ceramic tiles on the floor. With terror in her voice she said, "Tom, we didn't pick out pink tile, did we?" I assured her there was not a chance that I had picked out pink anything for anywhere in any house I'd be living in. I raced out to the subdivision and found that, although the tile was definitely not pink, it did indeed have enough of a pink tone to it I would have never agreed to any such tile.
After many choice words with the salesman, he first tried to convince us we had, indeed, chosen that tile. Once we made it clear there was no possibility of that happening in this life, he went to Plan B: The old, "It really doesn't look pink and most of it is down anyway. I think you'll be happy with it." Sorry, NO SALE. Finally, under great duress, they agreed, begrudgingly, to tear out the wrong stuff and put in the right stuff.
As parents, we're a lot like the salesman. When something goes wrong with our kids, we first look for someone else to blame (the teacher, the coach, the school district, the neighbors kids, culture, our spouse, our parents, etc.). If that doesn't work, we resort to Plan B: Well, it's not so bad. It could have been worse. A lot of kids are doing a lot worse stuff than this. We should just be grateful this is the worst problem we face. If, with all our best efforts, we are unable to convince ourselves, then we have to resort to the manual labor of ripping up what's wrong and replacing it with what belongs. That's hard work, and always our last resort that we put off as long as possible. Ripping up tile is hard work. Tearing things out of our kids lives that don't belong is both hard work and painful work. The key is to stay on top of things before they get to that point. That takes vigilance and discipline. But, the other options are much worse.
I'm looking forward to sharing some great, practical, biblical truths that I wish someone had shared with me about 30 years ago. Can't wait to see you Sunday as we begin, UNDER MY ROOF.
I remember one day receiving a frantic phone call from Susan. She had snuck out that day at lunch to check on the progress, only to find that this particular day they were installing all the ceramic tiles on the floor. With terror in her voice she said, "Tom, we didn't pick out pink tile, did we?" I assured her there was not a chance that I had picked out pink anything for anywhere in any house I'd be living in. I raced out to the subdivision and found that, although the tile was definitely not pink, it did indeed have enough of a pink tone to it I would have never agreed to any such tile.
After many choice words with the salesman, he first tried to convince us we had, indeed, chosen that tile. Once we made it clear there was no possibility of that happening in this life, he went to Plan B: The old, "It really doesn't look pink and most of it is down anyway. I think you'll be happy with it." Sorry, NO SALE. Finally, under great duress, they agreed, begrudgingly, to tear out the wrong stuff and put in the right stuff.
As parents, we're a lot like the salesman. When something goes wrong with our kids, we first look for someone else to blame (the teacher, the coach, the school district, the neighbors kids, culture, our spouse, our parents, etc.). If that doesn't work, we resort to Plan B: Well, it's not so bad. It could have been worse. A lot of kids are doing a lot worse stuff than this. We should just be grateful this is the worst problem we face. If, with all our best efforts, we are unable to convince ourselves, then we have to resort to the manual labor of ripping up what's wrong and replacing it with what belongs. That's hard work, and always our last resort that we put off as long as possible. Ripping up tile is hard work. Tearing things out of our kids lives that don't belong is both hard work and painful work. The key is to stay on top of things before they get to that point. That takes vigilance and discipline. But, the other options are much worse.
I'm looking forward to sharing some great, practical, biblical truths that I wish someone had shared with me about 30 years ago. Can't wait to see you Sunday as we begin, UNDER MY ROOF.
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