Pink Shoes

 

This past week my son offered to drive his sisters and some friends home after a track meet.  Had they known the condition of the vehicle with which he was driving, they all four may have refused.  However, being ignorant of the current state of disrepair, his two sisters, along with two adolescent boys crawled into the SUV.  Once all passengers were safely secured into their seats with buckles clicked, he pulled away from the curb and accelerated onto the main road.  Immediately, the car began shaking like a jackhammer tearing up a concrete sidewalk.  My son heard the voice of one of the two boys sitting in the back seat behind him speak with anxious concern, “I-i-i-s-s-a-a-a-c-c,  s-s-ome-th-ing i-i-is sh-sha-shak-shaking re-rea-lly b-b-ba-aa-dd b-a-ck h-h-e-re.”

“Oh yeah, I should have warned you…the rear left tire is kind of bad.”

“D-d-d-do y-y-yo-ou th-thi-ink?”

After a total of nearly 8 miles of aggressive shuddering that could shake a brain through a sinus passage, my son was able to safely drop the two boys off at their house and make it home with his sisters a few moments later.  Ironically, by the next morning all of the air in that left rear tire had rushed to the top of the tire, leaving it as flat as a college student’s wallet.   

Despite the good decisions that my son can, at times, make, I am not always convinced of his cognitive awareness to the world around him, thus I drew his attention to the problem, “Isaac, you cannot take your car to school this morning…the tire is flat.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes.”

“Wow…that’s surprises me?”

“What!? I am surprised that it hasn’t blown months ago.”

“Why?”

“Never mind, you will need to take the minivan this morning.”

“Ugh…I don’t want to take the minivan…it’s not cool…it’s embarrassing…kids will make fun of me…can’t I take the truck instead?”

“Seriously? The truck squeaks like a mouse at a birthday party, has more rust than Alec Baldwin and not to mention that your car was shaking like a San Francisco earthquake.  You would rather sit 3 people on top of each other in the cab of the small pickup and unload like clowns in a miniature Volkswagen than drive the minivan because the minivan is too embarrassing?”

“Yeah!”

I don’t get it.

Today I took “prom pictures” of the boy…the same boy who was too embarrassed to drive a minivan but apparently not too embarrassed to wear pink shoes without socks and his suit pants hemmed 6 inches off his ankles…comparative I would think that the minivan is “cool.”

I realize fashions come and go and change quickly, but this seems to be one that can’t “go” quick enough.  In fairness, I remember mocking my parents about their bell bottoms and they mocked me for rolling and pinning my jeans in the 90’s.

Despite all of his awkward, weird and inconsistent nuances…I still love the kid.  I am committed to love him and will continue to love him.  There is a love in my heart that has been placed there by someone other than myself…God has done it.  God places within us the ability to love.  In fact, He created mankind to love. Yet, over and over again, our sin nature rebels against love. 

God has placed in me, a supernatural love that extends beyond just my son, daughters, wife and family, it includes a love for others.  I can’t love people simply by “trying harder.” To love people well, it must come from the divine hand of God.  He calls us to obey Him and love him, and when we come to love Him more deeply, He will give us a greater capacity to love others…all others in our lives.  He gives us the ability to love…not just tolerate…our enemies.  He fosters within us a love for those of other political views, for those who do not believe, for those who dress differently and all others.  In 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12, Paul spurs the believers to love as an act of obedience to God and our love for Him.  The power and ability to love comes from the hand of God placed into our hearts that we may love others.

God puts this love in us, so that we can help make God’s love known through our love for people.  This may be the greatest and most difficult task that the Lord has called believers to do. 

May we come to fall more deeply in love with Jesus, that he will place within us a supernatural love for others…and then to obey God…by expressing that love.