photo by tinyfroglet
We’re on our way back home from our family vacation. The photos still need to be developed (yes, still have the same old camera), our focus will have to move back to the usual and familiar, and the next vacation is but a glimmer of a thought. However, I have to say this vacation was not one that fit into any traditional mold. It was a working vacation for my husband, Bill, and I wasn’t exactly a happy nor supportive camper.
A week before we were to leave my husband received a phone call from his oldest son. I have to give a little bit of background here for this to make sense to those who have been regular readers.
Before my husband came to Christ he was a devout atheist. He was married a couple of times before I came along, a fact that he doesn’t like to go into much detail about, so I won’t either. He had two children from his first marriage whom I did not help raise, who are now grown and have families of their own. Bill’s oldest son made a profession of faith as a young, fairly newly married adult, and he and his wife had a son, Timmy, shortly after the birth of our daughter Rachel.
Sometimes life produces unexplainable events and my husband’s grandson (our grandson) was diagnosed with a brain tumor as a preschooler. He fought a hard battle, but a little over a month past his fifth birthday Timmy lost the fight. As we memorialized his short life, Bill’s oldest son grew angry and disparaging. In spite of the prayers of hundreds, if not thousands, of people, being a regular church going family and having a father (my husband) who taught from God’s Word, this son thought God had failed him and he turned his back on Him.
To make a long story short, Bill’s son’s marriage failed, leaving a second son with a broken home. He remarried, and now has a daughter with his second wife. However, for a variety of reasons, his son from his first marriage developed into a young boy with behavioral problems, which included disrespect for authority, lying, and an imposing, dominating personality.
Back to the phone call a week before we left for our vacation. Bill’s son called to say his son had been expelled from a summer program. He and his new wife couldn’t join us for the whole vacation, but could he send the boy down so Grandpa could work with him, maybe work some of his grandfatherly magic and help turn his grandson around?
Bill said yes, and the vacation we had been anticipating for months became a dreaded thing looming in front of us. We all knew how challenging this grandson was. Quiet walks through the gardens? Sharing family activities and fun times? Finding a cozy spot for reading a good book or contemplating life? That was about to all go out the window, and I was not happy.
But then, God stepped in.
Read what happened during our two week vacation on Tuesday, August 26th.
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