A Day To Reflect On Our First Born Child!

We mark this day in a special way since we celebrate today the 42nd birthday of our eldest child, the first of our three sons. Seems like the time has gone by much too quickly. Being the first born, he received most of the uninformed trial and error treatment from my wife and I, who were hardly more than older kids ourselves. My idea was that I wanted him to be a model little guy who always reflected a strict adherence to all the rules, commands, and wishes of his dad. Somehow, with God’s help, he has grown into a man who has sought to serve God and has led his family to do the same.

Every child is different. Through some quirk in the DNA structure I totally missed out on whatever it is that’s required to be hands on mechanical. This doesn’t mean that I wasn’t involved in a lot of mechanical stuff, it just never stuck, period. Our son, on the other hand, came complete with the handyman gene fully operational, even at a young age. He began taking things apart and fixing them probably at age 8 or 9. If there is information that can be read or studied he typically can read it and quickly become effective in doing that task whether it is doing anything automotive, working on appliances, doing remodeling and construction, plumbing, providing expert computer repair, and any number of other types of activities.

Everyone in our family has been blessed with his help over the years. This can be a little depressing for me since typically they hide the tools where I can’t find them. When I said I was not inclined or skilled in doing mechanical things I did not say that has kept me from trying. Some of my efforts have become legendary funny stories. One of my favorite ones involves me deciding to do hot water heater repair. I can’t remember exactly what was wrong but it required that I turn the water off and disconnect all the plumbing to the water heater. Here’s what happened.

I looked high and low and finally found enough pipe wrenches and other tools to do the job. Our water heater is in the garage and I was busily doing my thing in trying to break loose the couplings on the connecting pipes. About that time our eldest pulled up into the driveway and jumped out of his car. He then yelled in a loud voice, “Put the pipe wrench down and back away from the water heater and we will not have a problem!” I protested, but he persisted, “Just do as I tell you, put the wrench down, now!”

Of course he ended up repairing the unit and all was well. Bottom line is that we appreciate all he has done for us and all he means to us. He is blessed with a really good job and he does his best to provide for his family. He and I often tackle theological questions during which he reminds me of a younger me. Given all he was subjected to during my hit and miss approach to child rearing, he stands out as a wonderful example of God’s grace in action as he continues to grow and develop in his life. My wife and I are blessed. Our children, their wives, and their children reflect God’s goodness to us and we thank Him for giving them to us. Happy 42nd Birthday son, and may God continue to bless. …More later.