Don't be a Fool

Son,
Mr. T always pitied the fool, simply because the fool did not know what was coming. There are many ways we can be fools in our lives and the easiest way is by choosing to remain foolish.
Proverbs 12:15 "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice." By listening to advice we can use the foolish failures of others to teach us and provide a wiser way through life. The best advice comes in the moments we want to hear it least. While it is hard to accept correction when we are foolish, the best way to avoid remaining a fool is to listen to the wise advice of those around us.
Proverbs 10:8 "The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin." Aim to be wise and you will avoid ruin. Listening more than you talk is the easiest way to gain more wisdom. By listening intently to what the people in our life are advising us on we avoid more foolishness.
Proverbs 10:23 "Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding." While repeating the foolish things we do is the a clear sign of a lack of wisdom, understanding why we make certain decisions and improving on where we make mistakes is the greatest way to advance in wisdom.
Proverbs 17:10 "A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool." The ability to accept correction is the sign of a wise man. Admitting when you've made a mistake and humbly accepting your faults when you are called on the carpet is the start of gaining wisdom. Don't be the fool who is corrected multiple times just to ignore them.
Proverbs 18:2 "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion." This goes back to listening more than you speak. In order to truly understand those around us we have to listen to the things they say and what the mean by them. A great deal of knowledge comes from listening to others speak and understanding what they mean and asking when we don't.
Proverbs 23:9 "Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words." Be the man that listens to the good sense of those around him, no one enjoys the fool who can't accept good advice.
Proverbs 26:12 "Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him." All wisdom comes from God and your wisdom and abilities come from him. Never feel like you have learned all you need to learn, throughout your whole life you will learn more and more. 1 Corinthians 3:18
"Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise."Proverbs 28:26 "Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered." There is no better way to be wise then to realize your are not as wise as you could be. The easiest way to avoid feeling like you know it all is by having people around you who know more than you and have wisdom that stretches beyond yours.
Ecclesiastes 10:12 "The words of a wise man's mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him." Choose your words and your friends with wisdom. The more you speak with humble wisdom the greater influence you will have and others will have a higher respect for you. Over all just don't be a fool. Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Remember that the Lord is holy and he does not ask you to respect him but fear him to start on the path to wisdom. Start there and you will have all the wisdom you could ever ask for.

Love ya,
Dad

The Trouble with Fear

Son, the epiphany moments of life are often many. I can't tell you how often huge revelations hit me at the perfect moments. God has a way of giving us what we need when we need it, even when we don't ask. Most often these great epiphany moments come when I'm talking to your Uncle John, he's great at getting your dad to see things in a different aspect. Recently we've been talking about fear and what impact it has. Oddly enough I don't react to the same fears that others do, mainly the fear of failure. I ignore that fear like a sales call.

I am the king of starting things. I'll start a group, project, business, plan, or many other adventures without one thought of it having a potential for failure. My fear comes from the idea of success. The success of my plan or idea is what scares me most. There is no fear at where I start, I could start anything without a second thought, the fear becomes mountainous as I approach the finish line. This creates, what most would call, half baked schemes that have me dropping them like a bad habit. Once I see the potential for something to succeed I realize the potential more success. I am afraid of being uncomfortable, that one day I will have had so many success I won't even remember what average looks like.

Honestly, it's a better fear than not starting at all but I use that like a cop out. I'll say, "At least I am starting things. At least I'm not afraid of failure. At least I kinda do something" but it's all non sense. That's where fear gets tricky. While everyone is all too familiar with the fear of failure I have to face the fear of success. It can manifest itself in a much different voice. No one gives the guy who tried as much of a hard time as the guy who never did. There is this weird expectation that if you start something you'll finish it, it's not true. Sure you'll be more likely to finish something you started rather than something you never did. Oh am I the Poster Child for starting things and quitting them just as quickly. Except my dinner, I'm gonna finish that, that'll get me rolling with success, successful weight gain.

What I am trying to get at here is that fear knows you well and it's a devil of voice. Fear hasn't bothered me when starting something for as long as I can remember. Yet when what I have started begins to grow into success, I quit so fast because of the voices of fear trick me. They say, "You don't know how to do that. You'll have to give up everything to make this successful, quit now before your time is wasted. It's not possible, give up now and no one will blame you." Man does fear know what I'll listen to. I mean of all the things, how crazy is it to think that quitting before reaching an ultimate failing point is ok. Maybe I really am afraid of failure. It would seem that I want to control when I fail. I don't want to find out where that ceiling is for my success because I am afraid it's too high. I fear getting there and never being able to return. I am afraid of the sacrifice and gazelle like intensity that I will have to have to push beyond my quitting point. I'm scared but I'm also tired forcing failure upon myself because I am scared to succeed. Maybe it's because I experienced early failure so much that I got comfortable with it. I never went into any idea with a mindset that I was going to fail but I don't really recall many successful finishes in my life. I was a successful starter but the finish line wasn't quite for me.

I hit the finish line in high school but it was because I got drug there. I had what would seem to be senioritis, as it's called, but that wasn't quite it. I had no desire to get to the finish line after nearly 4 years of high school. It wasn't that high school was such a great place but more that I didn't want to push into success. I wanted a championship in basketball and tried very hard, that goal failed due to things beyond my control, but I didn't know success. I had a girl friend and instead of pouring into the relationship, I wanted it to fail. I always acted like I wanted more responsibility but the moment that responsibility became something for me to own by myself, I'd dump it like trash pick up on Mondays. Holy cow I was a failure junkie! Addicted to starting things just so I could watch them fail. I loved it and I created this illusion that I was doing something with my life because I was doing so many different things. Truth is I was forcing failure into so many things. I had so many jobs by the time I was 21, just ask my friends how many times I'd call them selling them something new (and I wonder why they never answer my calls). From knives to life insurance, I tried selling it. I was the king of selling hot dogs though. Yet every single avenue I took was met with failure, some of it forced by me, some was out of my hands.

I'm a professional starter and habitual quitter, that's too afraid to be successful. So the question isn't where do I start, it's where do I finish. That question is even more difficult to answer than any question about starting. That's because we don't get to control the finish line, which is why I force failure into my starts. I don't get to control where my success will take me and that terrifies me. So it's easier to sit back in a comfy chair on a Saturday afternoon and watch the grass grow, some days that can take a lot out of me... I have to fix it and I think I have come up with an idea.

Getting to the finish line
1. While I can have a good idea of what the end will look like, I have no idea where the finish line will be or where God is going to place it. I have to let go of the end and make moves in the now.
2. The unforeseen that comes up along the way is not a detour, it's part of the path to the finish line. To be successful I have to use the moments of haywire to compliment my steps.
3. Failure should only come if I have called every friend I have for help and the only good idea is to end what I started.
4. I need to find out how others got to their success, what they did when all they wanted was to quit.
5. The time out is not just for punishment, rest is needed to create an environment of success. I need to take more PTO.
6. The moments I feel like quitting should be matched with moments of sharing my fear. Fear hates community and seemingly it gets quite when you've got your girl with you.
7. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. Going anything alone is selfish and useless. Partnerships are fun and communication is key.
8. If I have any success left when I get to the end of the road, you've not only robbed myself but the world. They World needs me to be successful, it needs me to make a difference.
9. Success is a better teacher than failure and locking up some little ones will help prepare me for bigger ones.
10. Overall success is measured by my own tape measure and not anyone else.

Son, I love you a ton and hope to see you go through many successes and few failures. Just don't be afraid of either one.

Love,
Dad

You Will Do Great Things

There is a time to reap and a time to sow
What the future holds we can not know
For God shapes our lives in well planned ways
and the best we see is day to day
His plans for you are bigger still
Than anything that I could will
It's not too hard but takes a choice
To listen to his soft still voice
The great things that you will do
Have more impact than just on you
You will go through life with mistakes
But don't miss out on the lessons they will make
Your life is headed for real great things
You will see the greatness that God brings
Go and see the love He has for you
You won't believe what He'll have you do

Being Awesome Takes Time

Son, I read this post and liked it enough to share with you. It's from a great author named Jon Acuff. Some of this you might not understand depending on what age you are but regardless of the stage in life you are at this little bit of advice is helpful.

"I have a love/hate relationship with the show International House Hunters. I love the houses. I hate the people who are looking at them.

Maybe hate is too strong of a word, but I’m a little jealous of the people who are looking at them. The show is pretty simple: a real estate agent shows three houses to a couple to look at in some exotic market. Then, at the end, they buy one of them. And each episode is the same, with the buyers saying this:

“Well, we need a third house, and we’ve already got one in Turks and Caicos, so we thought we’d try Florence, Italy. My job allows me to travel internationally and do my work from coffee shops on cobble streets. We’ve got a budget of 4 million dollars and would like to be able to see the Duomo from our rooftop deck.”

And then they look at three houses and inevitably pick the most expensive one that was way outside of their budget. Once you’ve watched the International version, it’s impossible to be interested in the domestic version of the show. Once you’ve seen a couple scour the streets of Prague for an apartment that looks like a castle, it’s impossible to watch a couple look for a 2 bedroom fixer upper in Akron, Ohio.

I don’t watch much television, because I’m better than you, and one day might turn into one of those people who, without being provoked at dinner parties, just constantly blurts out “I don’t even own a television.” But I used to watch The Biggest Loser a lot. It’s the show about weight loss, and I liked it because it was slow.

It didn’t wrap up in a single episode with someone coming to the ranch 300 pounds overweight, changing three things in their life, and then going home 30 minutes later.

Contestants sweat and bled and threw up during grueling workouts. They learned how to eat healthy. They were taught new shopping habits and worked through emotional issues. Over months and months, they rebuilt their lives.

It took them a while to get to the weight they were at. No one is born 300 pounds overweight. There is a process and steps and decisions piled upon decision that get you there. And no one on The Biggest Loser would ever say, “It took me 10 years to put on this weight. I’d like it all gone in the next 10 days.” That would be crazy, but sometimes that is exactly what we say to our dreams.

We start surveying our lives, we start to figure out where we want to go, and we start working to take steps forward. And then a week in, a month in, six months in, we assess where we are and get frustrated.

It’s taking too long. Our dreams are stalled, the progress is not fast enough, and so we quit.

We’ve got to give ourselves time.

It took you a year or 10 years or maybe 20 years to get to the moment you’re in. If you’re going to change your life, if you’re going to march off in a different direction, if you’re going to end each day with “How did I get here?” it might take some time. Give yourself generous amounts of time.

We often spend decades getting lost, then expect to find our ways out of the jungle in a long weekend. We go to a conference that gets us fired up. It’s an amazing 48 hours, and we go home and face Monday. And things are still the same. The conference didn’t “take,” and we’re mad at ourselves. Or we launch a new project, a new book, or a new business, and the amount of time we give ourselves to succeed is “right now.” We want instant exit from the issues or challenges it took us years to enter.

It’s going to take some time. And that’s OK. Recovery always takes time. The challenge is that we want to “discover” our dreams.

As I detailed in Quitter, we often want eureka moments. We want to be walking across the street at 42 years of age, get hit by a lightning bolt, and suddenly say, “Eureka! I’m meant to be a beekeeper. All these years I’ve been an accountant, no wonder life has been so difficult! I’ve discovered my passion.”

But more often than not, figuring out our calling is an act of recovery, of rescuing something from your past that you loved and you lost. Something that life got too busy for and you stopped doing, or something that someone who mattered to you told you didn’t matter.

“You think you can do that for the rest of your life?”

“How could you ever make money doing that?”

“It’s time to grow up. That idea is silly.”

The older we get, the more our dreams get chipped away by life, until eventually a passion we’ve always had gets covered up by years and years.

Finding your true passion is a reunion, not a first date. It’s an act of recovery, and recovery is not easy.

I was reminded of that when my wife hurt her finger in a power drill accident. (How fast did my mancard just get revoked? If you listen closely, you can hear it being shredded as I tell this story.)

One day while I was at work, writing adjectives with my soft, uncallused writer’s hands, my wife called me in a panic. She was screaming about her hand and a drill, and yelled out the name of a hospital I was supposed to meet her at.

I raced there to find her with a blood soaked towel and a bag of ice around her left hand. Turns out, our rake was broken. In order to fix it, my wife decided to drill the medal prongs back on to the wooden handle. The corded drill jumped when it hit the wood and caught the glove tip of my wife’s pointer finger. The force of the drill spun her finger in the glove, splitting it open and dislocating it. After pushing her tendons back into the open wound, my wife then called me for help.

In the months to follow, she would spend hours at the hand therapist. (Did you know there were hand therapists? Did you know they cost $215 per 15 minutes? I do now.) She had to do excruciating exercises at home and wear a large claw that kind of looked like she was giving everyone the middle finger. She had to do routines with a pressure device and squeeze gels. This lasted for months. And a year later, she is still working on that finger. Why? Because she wants to recover mobility. She wants to recover her finger.

And it’s just a finger.

We’ve spent almost a year working to recover that finger.

And it’s just a finger.

If you’ve spent a few years saying, “How did I get here?” If you’ve lost your dream, it’s going to take time for you to recover it.

Give yourself some time"

http://www.jonacuff.com/blog/give-yourself-this-at-least-once-a-day/

Hope this provides some understanding on how things just take time to go through. Give yourself some time and don't rush through things. It will always take time to get better or to change.

Love ya,

Dad

50 pieces of life

1. In Monopoly, buy the orange properties. They are the most frequently landed on properties.

2. You are what you do, not what you say. Let your actions match your words and you can always be taken at your word.

3. Don’t be afraid of pickup games. It’s the best way to learn. Competing with someone better only makes you better.

4. Never be afraid to ask out the best-looking girl in the room. You’ll be surprised how often it works and all girls deserve to be wined and dined.

5. Watch lightning storms, they are glorious displays of God's power.

6. Men and Women are equal but different. Have the same level of respect for all people.

7. Always have your friend's back. Support them no matter what.

8. Express your feelings through different outlets. Don't worry what others think.

9. Other's opinions of you hold as much weight as a cow's opinion of you. They don't matter, God's opinion is the only on that does.

10. Spend time with your family.

11. Health is important, staying fit and eating right will make life more pleasant.

12. Be a good listener. Don’t just wait your turn to talk. Seek first to understand then to be understood.

13. Know your neighborhood like the back of your hand. Sometimes the best adventures are in your own backyard.

14. When in doubt, wear a suit.

15. If you don’t know what a word means, ask. Knowledge is an important piece of life.

16. Start a band, non-profit, club, team, or anything that will give you a sense of ownership.

17. When it comes to shoveling snow, the earlier you start, the easier the job.

18. Keep your room clean. It builds healthy habits.

19. You'll naturally be rebellious and you'll learn some hard lessons because of it. A man seeks obedience, especially that of God.

20. Read a book, perform in a play, or film. Art is full of surprises.

21. Believe it or not, a museum is a great place to beat a hangover. It’s cool, quiet, and full of water fountains.

22. Dance with your partner. But don’t forget to lead.

23. Be cool to the younger kids. Reputations are built over a lifetime.

24. Order the local specialty. Taste the variety created for you.

25. Drive across the country. Don’t rush.

26. There’s nothing wrong with musical theater.

27. Don’t boo. Even the ref is somebody’s child.

28. When singing karaoke, choose a song within your range.

29. Read before bed every night. A book every two weeks is a good goal.

30. Never post a picture online you wouldn't feel comfortable showing your mother, your boss, and the dean of admissions.

31. Don’t throw sand or, when you’re older, mud.

32. Take the stairs.

33. There is never an excuse for stealing someone’s cab.

34. Choose a window seat and enjoy the view.

35. Find a good barber and pay for a good haircut.

36. Take responsibility, an excuse doesn't eliminate your duty.

37. There is always something that could use a fresh coat of paint.

38. If you make a mistake, forgive yourself and move on.

39. Have a favorite song. It doesn't have to be hip. (The best ones never are.)

40. Until you are a doctor, never answer your phone at the table. That goes for emails, texts, and tweets.

41. If you get yourself arrested, call me. It's not as bad you you think it will be.

42. Help a buddy move.

43. Don’t panic.

44. If you ignore history, it will ignore you.

45. There is rarely a need to raise your voice. At the ballgame is one exception.

46. Never hog a microphone. Less is sometimes more.

47. Keep your word. Especially the one you make to yourself.

48. Money is not evil, the love of it is. True wealth doesn't have to have 0's behind it.

49. Respect fire.

50. Find some goals and write them down. Goals force practical steps in your life to make your dreams come true.

The Money Talk

Son, I love you too much to not sit you down and have a serious talk about finances. We will have many of these moments as you grow up since financial situations change often. I want to raise you based off the principle of Romans 13:8, "Owe no man anything except to love him." Debt is dumb and, short of a mortgage, should never be an option. If you can't pay cash for it then you can't afford it. I won't ever lend you money but if you ever need some cash, ask me if I want to make an investment. I will invest money in you any day of the week. I will never put you in a situation where you are salve to the lender. Proverbs 22:7 "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender." Don't ever think otherwise, debt is never a good option, in fact, it's no option at all. Half of the problem with the American system is that a couple of slow thinking politicians thought that having debt is an acceptable way and the only way to live life. But hey, it wasn't their money so they don't have to experience the slavery that encompasses that debt.

We all make mistakes in life and there is always enough grace to cover for our lapses. That's no reason to run around acting dumb. What Jesus gives us is a better way to live life and yes, it involves giving up the simple pleasures of the immediate flesh and experiencing rewards through perseverance. Good golly it's not going to be easy and the greatest rewards take much discipline and hard work. Luckily God does not exasperate us by setting us up for failure. He gives us a better way to live life because he knows we can succeed at it and ignorance is no excuse. Your dad has to find grace often and the beauty of it is that it allows us to not make the same mistake again. Lessons in failure are often the best teachers for success. Guess what, God promises to give us enough grace, strength, and mercy to deal with those lessons. 2 Cor 12:9  ""My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

So to focus this on money and finances we need to make one thing clear, money is not evil and having lots of money does not make you evil. 1 Tim 6:10 "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." The love of money is what will cause evil to grow inside you. Being generous is impossible if you don't have any money. We are also expected to be wise with what is given to us, including money, talent, and time. Holy cow is there some much in the bible about this particular topic. Bottom line is that when you are trusted with things you have to rise up and produce greatness from that. I sure does take diligence but nothing worth doing has ever come easy. Brush up on your steward'ness here http://www.openbible.info/topics/being_a_good_steward

So here is my advice to you to help you start off right in your youth. First off debt is not a part of your language, you don't understand why it exist and don't want any part of it. Then, every dollar you earn or are given has a goal, I literally mean EVERY dollar. These goals will be targeted at investing and saving in your youth. Time is the greatest multiplier of your money, it's the magic of compound interest (the second greatest force in the universe). Save the wish list of toys you want for your birthday and Christmas. In your youth you will not need to buy your toys or even really consider spending on those. Trust me, the toys you can buy by the time you are 20 will be way cooler than any money you spend in your youth. That is where the discipline part comes in. It's going to be hard to not let your impulses control you in your youth but discipline in your youth leads to easy habits to follow when you get older. You won't need more than $1000 in cash savings in your youth. Once you have that, invest every last dollar you ever get until you move out of the house. You'll likely want to buy a car when you can drive, start planning around 14 to save up to pay cash for something cheap by the time you can drive. You shouldn't have a car that is worth more than $5000 in high school. The more expensive your car, the more money you will pay in insurance. I'll provide an example for you. Lets just say you put $500 a month ($6,000 a year) into investments a month, I am averaging this amount out from what you are likely to earn from 1-20, If you take that you will have over $1,000,000 by age 25. If you keep contributing that small amount, which you will be making more as you get older, you'll have 6 million dollars by the time you are 40, and you will have only paid $240,000 that's more than 90% in interest. And to add the last figure for you, by the time you retire at 65, if you never contributed more than 500 a month, you would have over $100,000,000 to retire on. The simple facts are that time is on your side, use it well, don't do debt, and be generous.

Love,
Dad

Prodigal Son

Today I was given a great perspective on this parable. There are many things that can be taken from this parable and it follows in line with the Parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. All of these parables contain one prevailing theme, it's the theme of redemption. You have a women that cleans her whole house looking for 1 coin, although she has 9 others, A Shepard that faces eminent danger to bring back a single lost sheep, and a father who welcomes home a wasteful son. All of these cases drive home the point that no matter where we are at or what we have done, there is redemption in Christ.

Luke 15:11-32 11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.


13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”


In the particular case of the prodigal son there are three main characters. The father, the lost son, and the older brother. The son follows through on satisfying his flesh while his brother follows the rules and supports the household.

When the son realizes that his life is not how he imagined it and he had run into the ground he seeks to be anywhere close to his father, even if he is not restored to his original position. Often times we can find ourselves in the same place. We've gone off on our own, satisfying ourselves, and when it returns us empty, we go back to the feet of Jesus begging for forgiveness.

When the father sees his son is coming back to him, he runs to embrace him. There is no anger or frustration, just redeeming grace. The father forgives all wrongs and rejoices at his son's return. He immediately throws a feast to celebrate the return of a lost son. Grace has made all the wrongs turn into nothing, he will never remember his son leaving or what he did but only his return. The same celebration is thrown every time we turn back to God. So when it's been a while since you've come to God for any reason, just remember he welcomes and celebrates your return.

The last piece is the brother. The brother isn't so happy to see the son return and a celebration be thrown for him. He wants some form of punishment, he feels wronged. His brother went out and had all this fun, that he likely wished he could have, and he comes home to a celebration. He's angry that he follows all the rules and never gets a party. He doesn't understand the grace that his father shows and sees it as foolishness. He missed the point that his missing brother was back. He also doesn't understand that even if there is no punishment from his father, the son still has to deal with the consequences of his choices. Grace is all he can give and punishment is not up to him.

Grace from the Father does not mean that your choices hold no consequence. The son likely had to deal with debt collectors coming to collect. He may have suffered some illness while laying with pigs. He could have emotional damage from unfulfilling relationships. The son has to face the fall out of the choices he made. He no longer has an inheritance, his family will likely have trouble trusting him, and as he can see from his brother, he wont get the same grace from everyone.

The ultimate point Jesus was trying to make when telling this parable was redemption. He wants us to be like the father in this story. The one who runs to those whom have wronged him and embraces them with grace. The one who celebrates the return of lost friends and forgives the wrongs of the past. Grace is the best way to approach every situation. It's not always that easy but if we remember the warm embrace we receive from God after every fall, we can understand that there isn't any shortness of grace we receive and to freely give it is what we should do.

Always expect to face the consequences of your choices but remember that God always welcomes you back with open, rejoicing arms. I will always give grace to you son, as I know that without it, I would not be standing.

Love ya,
Dad