Have you ever found that it's
really, really, really difficult to do what you maybe plan to
do, like to be obedient in situations where you become extremely stressful?
Like you notice that like, man, this is, I want to live this
way. I want to act this way. I want
to make sure that my character is in this particular way. But
then you get into a really stressful situation. You find out it is
a lot more difficult. A couple of weeks ago, I was
at home. Amber was not at home, and I
was gonna drop Caleb, my son. He's seven years old. I was gonna
drop him off to her on my way. I had somewhere to be that evening.
I was kind of in a hurry, and so I had to drop Caleb off to
make sure that I got there on time. I was getting my stuff
together. I ran upstairs. Caleb was like in his room upstairs,
so I like I ran up there. I had to get some things out
of my room upstairs, and I got up to like the top of the stairs,
and I was like, man, what is that? And I kept going to my
room. I kind of look back and I think,
is that dog poop? You've got to be kidding me.
So I'm like already, like I'm totally looking at it just like
that. And as I'm gathering this, you know, Caleb, I'm like, Caleb,
we got to go. So he like starts walking around the corner. So
I'm like, I noticed he had his shoes on. I'm like, bro, do you
got dog poop on your shoe? No, I don't have, no, not at
all. I'm like, let me see your shoe.
He goes like that. And it's clean as a whistle.
I'm like, he's like, see, that's exactly what he said. See, I
said, let me see the other shoe. And he went like that. Sure is
shoe, but not shoe. It was covered. He's like, I'm
like, dude, what are you doing? Get your shoe off. Take off your
shoes, right? And he's doing this. He's going,
I can't. I can't. Just like that. He's
like, I can't. I can't get it, you know? And
I'm like, take it off. And he's doing that whole thing. I finally said, sit your butt. But I didn't say butt. Down. And take off your shoes. And
he just immediately, that shoe is off so quick. Just like that,
you know, and I'm like, let's go, you know And so of course
I'm shooting the amber attacks like look you're gonna come home
and there's gonna like, you know, whatever Yeah By the time I get
home it'll have been dealt with right and so we get in the car
I'm like going to drop kill off. It's like I'm starting to feel
convicted now, you know, so I'm like I'd like totally just cost
at my kid and like so in the car I'm like, hey, but, you know,
Daddy shouldn't have said, I shouldn't have said, you know, that in
that way, too, like, you know, said that. And I think he was
just like, I just hope I'm not dead when mom gets home. I mean,
that's where he was at with the whole thing. I'm not worried
about you, man. I'm worried about me. So, later that night, I came
home and Amber and I usually, like, I'll lay down with my daughter
for a minute, you know, kind of like tuck her in and I'll
lay with Katie and, you know, that whole deal. So, I'm like
laying with my daughter, Hayden. in bed and I get a text from
Amber and it's like, you know, I'm like looking at I'm laying
in Hayden's bed. She's like Caleb said that you you you told him
to sit his butt down and I'm like great, you know now I'm
being held back. You know, now here's one more
layer to this, right? You know, because I'm thinking
to myself, I was totally stressed out, and that's why I did it,
right? So then she messaged me again.
She said, actually, it's worse than that. She said, he wants
to know how you can be a pastor and use that word like that.
And I was like, dead. The biggest thing that Amber
and I were really concerned about in that whole situation was that
how he has come to the idea that because I'm a pastor, or that
you may be a Christian, that you don't mess up, that you don't
say things, do things, that you are in desperate need of forgiveness
and God's grace. And so that was actually what
Amber and I were most concerned about. We sat down with Cale
and talked to him about like, hey, let's talk about like why
you would think that the daddy isn't capable. Of course, Amber
liked to have it. Let's talk about why he's perfectly
capable of doing this, right? But I was able to share with
him, hey, you know, Jesus came to die for the forgiveness of
our sins. And everybody, pastors, every
single person is always in desperate need for forgiveness. And that
never changes. That I'm always in need of God's
grace. And that we're all going to find
ourselves in this situation. The freedom that comes in the
gospel is not just seeing Jesus as an example for how I ought
to live, but seeing that Jesus is my substitute, meaning He
died for me. Where I have failed, Jesus didn't
fail. God did for me what I couldn't
do for myself. And because of that, where I
have failed, I am forgiven. And I don't have to live in being
defined by that. There's a freedom in being able
to receive forgiveness, realize that Jesus fulfilled my failure,
and being able to move on, and being able to live in the new
status and standing that I have in God.