Faith Filled Friday

Hello and welcome back to our Faith-Filled Friday. Hope everyone was able to put a great week behind them.

This week I was lucky enough to volunteer to help a young boy do his homework. He calls me Uncle John. I watched him struggle to keep his mind on the task of his homework. Every little thing around him would distract him. Like most children, he'd rather laugh and have fun than dedicate his time to homework. I could see so much of myself in Jacob Anything could distract me, too. In fact, to this day, I can struggle concentrating on the task at hand before my mind jumps elsewhere. Anyway, I kept hearing his parents get on him and as the time ticked by, I noticed we all were getting more and more tired, so I decided to try something different, to jump in there and start tackling it with him. There I was reaching out to help this young man. He had a lot more homework than I assumed he did, and the harder it got the more he resisted…at first. But we jumped on it and page by page the finish line came closer and closer until we were there. 

I could not help but feel a sense of accomplishing it with him. For a moment I relished the thought that it would be so neat to be a father, helping my child enrich his mind and to try and center one's self to accomplish the goal. 

I told Jacob about how good it feels to accomplish things and that getting in a great habit of taking the initiative to complete his homework will bring a sense of accomplishment in other areas of his life. So I challenged him to try next time and told him if he needs help, we can do it over the phone or I would be willing to come by.

The thing I find funny is that when I told him this, I had a flashback to my childhood. It was like I could see more clearly the mistakes I had made as a young boy, a teenager, and even as a man. It is so true that sometimes we must connect with our deep past to just get a better inkling of who we are. It really made stop and think about how the traits we get from childhood can stick with us and forge a road before us without us even realizing that those things are already out there for us, waiting for us to make the same mistakes over and over again. 

Guiding little Jacob for just that night really opened my own eyes to a couple of things that perhaps I have been overlooking. Could God inspire us in such a way? Could He be helping us to not only enrich the mind of a child but to also fulfill a sense of the fatherhood I have felt I would never have? Could He be guiding me toward looking at things in different ways to and help me concentrate more? 

The thing I love about God is that the possibilities are endless and most magical in their own ways. I came home completely exhausted, and yes, a 3rd grader’s homework he was behind on wore out this 40-something- year-old guy. But I still managed to get home and take the time to write this blog and now from here go to work. It will be a hard night ahead for sure, but I am anxious to get to it. Although Jacob won't see me write this blog or even getting through work tonight, I can't help but have a sense of wanting to lead by example. Talk about a multi-tasking God! 

This week, I challenge you and myself to let youthful individuals bring a sense of who we are and where we came from all while packing a lesson, not only for them, but also for us. 

Much love and God bless everyone.

John Tam