What an unbelievably good book! And but for the grace of God there go I.............
The parents had done everything right - raised their son to know the Lord. Their son graduated from the US Naval Academy and was a Navy Lieutenant. Late one night they got the call that their son had shot and killed the ex-husband of his wife. This book does not defend the action but walks through the devastation the parents faced - the guilt, the shame, anger and grief. She talks about how this became her Isaac situation - just like Abraham had to lay down his Isaac in order to fully trust God, in this book she relates to having to lay her own son down -- and learning to trust God fully, to lean on him. And learning how to forgive.
We all want our kids to turn out well, knowing and following Christ. But they will make mistakes --- we hope they won't be huge, life altering or even life ending mistakes. As parents we all have the potential to be prideful --- see I was a good parent --- see how well my child has turned out. But what if you were a good parent and yet your child turns from the Lord, commits a crime, does something horrible? How often have I looked on a scene where a child is out of control and thought ill of that parent - without knowing all the struggles, without any knowledge of what that child is really like. Maybe the child was having a bad day, maybe the child was sick. Maybe no matter what was taught the child strayed. As parents we all wrestle with the guilt of not having that perfect child. I often think of how God must feel - we are all his children. He is our Father and yet we can't even for one second of the day be perfect for him. We sin, we stray.
This book was very good and recommend reading it. She told the story very well. And dealt with the emotions but never once defended the act.
No comments:
Post a Comment