sooo, this past weekend i was asked to fill in for a softball team as they played up in a tournament…they had a couple of guys who were not able to make it and wanted to know if i could help them out…it was kind of last second and we had already made plans to go take molly to the zoo…i wasn’t real sure what to do…on one hand i really wanted to play ball!!! on the other hand i wanted to be there when molly got to see all the monkeys that she loves to read about and play with at home…
after discussing it with kasey and seeing who all was going to the zoo…it appeared as though i was going to be the only father there…the rest were going to be mother’s and daughters…and the team “needed” me…so i went to the softball tournament…
it was an extremely long day…we drove three hours…played five softball games…then drove three hours back…but that wasn’t the worst part…i didn’t get to see molly at all…she was asleep when i left at 6:30am and then again when i returned home at 9:40pm…i was really upset that i did not get to see her smile and say “hi”…i wasn’t able to hear her call me “dada” or call for the “kitty”…i wasn’t able to see her determination as she climbs up on the furniture…or her contentment as she drank her “baba”…i was really down…
God really challenged me during my ride home…i was listening to the sunday morning worship set on my ipod and watching the amazing colors of the sky as we were driving…and God gave me this nudge about how He feels when i don’t spend time with Him…OUCH!!! that’s happened a few times in my life, ok in the last week…i let the busyness of life take over and i just “can’t” work in my time with Him…and if i miss molly that much, think of how much more God misses His time with His children?!?
i don’t know if this is something you can identify with or not…it’s just something that God was teaching me this weekend as i experienced…
a day without my child…
4 responses so far ↓
ckroboth // August 19, 2008 at 8:07 am
I read your Blog all the time. Haven’t commented much here.
This one gets me… There a many times in the mornings that I will turn the alarm off at 5 and look back to the bed and think what does it hurt to miss a day. Then I turn and leave the room, go downstairs pour a glass of OJ and set down to the company of our God. When I am done I feel ready to conquer anything I encounter for the day. God is always with me, it is whether or not I decide to acknowledge his presence, and it does hurt him when I put anything in place of him in my heart.
jon mark // August 19, 2008 at 8:33 am
@ckroboth – thanks for sharing this morning!!!
Michael // August 19, 2008 at 2:14 pm
spot on… that is all I have to say…
a day without my child…take two… « jon mark // August 20, 2008 at 12:10 pm
[...] i’ve still been thinking about the post from monday…i was asked to go and play in another softball tournament next week, which is not [...]