March 17, 2019
I just love the story of the Prodigal Son. For the longest, my heart went out to the older brother who stayed home, worked hard and didn't cause his father any trouble......cause at one time, that was me.
When I was a teenager, my older brother who was 17, was enrolled in a church boarding school 10 hours away when he found himself in a heap of trouble. I won't go into what he did, but suffice it to say, he got kicked out of school. While he was driving himself the 500 miles home, my mother and father were busy making a gigantic sign to place in the yard that said "Welcome Home, Son". When I drove up in my Chevy Vega from school that day and saw that sign, I was furious. I couldn't understand why my parents were welcoming this good-for-nothing, troublemaker prodigal son of theirs, home with open arms. They barely acknowledged me; they just continued looking out the front window for him to drive up. I just didn't get it.
Many years later while talking to my Dad about this incident, I asked him why he welcomed my brother home without even a hint of anger and disgust. I'll never forget how he looked up, as if his mind was rewinding back to that time, and told me that he and Mom were so afraid that James would not return home that night...they feared they might never see or hear from him again. They wanted to make sure he knew how loved he was even with the mistakes he had made.....and he was forgiven.
It was a modern-day Prodigal Son story. I admire my folks 1000x more now than I did then cause, you see, my brother turned out to be one of the most spiritual people I've ever met....no doubt because of the love and forgiveness of that day many years ago.
Thank God we have a Father who will go to the ends of the earth to forgive us, love us and welcome us home.
"While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him;he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him."Luke 15:20
I just love the story of the Prodigal Son. For the longest, my heart went out to the older brother who stayed home, worked hard and didn't cause his father any trouble......cause at one time, that was me.
When I was a teenager, my older brother who was 17, was enrolled in a church boarding school 10 hours away when he found himself in a heap of trouble. I won't go into what he did, but suffice it to say, he got kicked out of school. While he was driving himself the 500 miles home, my mother and father were busy making a gigantic sign to place in the yard that said "Welcome Home, Son". When I drove up in my Chevy Vega from school that day and saw that sign, I was furious. I couldn't understand why my parents were welcoming this good-for-nothing, troublemaker prodigal son of theirs, home with open arms. They barely acknowledged me; they just continued looking out the front window for him to drive up. I just didn't get it.
Many years later while talking to my Dad about this incident, I asked him why he welcomed my brother home without even a hint of anger and disgust. I'll never forget how he looked up, as if his mind was rewinding back to that time, and told me that he and Mom were so afraid that James would not return home that night...they feared they might never see or hear from him again. They wanted to make sure he knew how loved he was even with the mistakes he had made.....and he was forgiven.
It was a modern-day Prodigal Son story. I admire my folks 1000x more now than I did then cause, you see, my brother turned out to be one of the most spiritual people I've ever met....no doubt because of the love and forgiveness of that day many years ago.
Thank God we have a Father who will go to the ends of the earth to forgive us, love us and welcome us home.
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