My son-in-law, Dustin, has been married to our daughter for over 2 years. He’s a great young man and smart, too (he proved that by marrying our daughter). Recently Dustin drove into our garage and forgot about the bike that was attached to the bike rack on top of their car. Needless to say loud scraping noises soon followed. When he got out to assess the damage (not much to the house, but fairly major damage to the bike/rack/roof-top of the car), he felt sick.
He meandered into our home where Heidi (our daughter) and Debbie were. He told them how stupid he felt and was just bummed. Well the bike/rack/car could be repaired, especially thanks to the break my neighbor (thanks, Tom!) gave us at his auto repair center. Dustin’s ego was another story. He couldn’t believe that he had forgotten about the extended cargo that he was carrying. Then my wife stepped in (thanks, Debbie!). She told Dustin and Heidi of a time earlier in our marriage when I was driving a U-Haul with an overhang on it, with kids and wife in tow. I managed to drive under an awning at an Interstate gas station and rip off the entire metal roofing. I’ve noticed that the new ones are a lot higher than they used to be (I guess there were a few other klutzes like me that tried to drive under them).
Needless to say Dustin felt better. Now he would no longer think I was the perfect father-in-law—at least I assumed he thought I was before this. It pays to extend mercy (because you’ll need it). It pays to stay humble (humble yourself or God will). It pays to not be too hard on yourself; after all, there’s insurance to take care of the awnings, neighbors to help you with your car damage, mother-in-laws to be the instrument in God’s hand to pick you up, spouses to make sure everyone knows you’re human, and God to remind you of just how important you are to Him (Psalm 8:3-9)!
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By: Glenn Burris Jr., general supervisor
