Skip to main content

A Modern Day Parable


  A man had two sons

  The younger son of them felt he had earned his share of his father’s estate so he left home with Dad’s credit card and went out to find himself.

  It didn’t take long till the card was maxed out and the people that the younger son was indebted to didn’t seem to care too much about the younger son’s journey of discovery, and just wanted their money. Times were tough and it seemed a full of himself spoiled son wasn’t the resume material for an easy high paying job so the son had to get a low-end menial one.

  One day when he was scrubbing toilets, the younger son had an epiphany. His Dad was wealthy and raised him accustomed to that lifestyle. This wasn’t fair. He couldn't even afford an unlimited data plan on minimum wage. He shouldn’t have to work. His father had cursed him with affluenza. This was his fault! He should march right back to father house and lay the blame right square on him!

  So as texted his Father to tell him he was coming home. The Father jumped into his truck and drove all the way to pick him up. He saw him and hugged him and put his stuff in the back. “We sure have missed you missed you” began the Father, but before he could finish the younger son started in on his explanation of his condition and his expectation of his Father’s responsibility to fix the problem he had created. The Father listened all the way home, never interrupting or trying to defend himself, though he often had a very puzzled look about him. When they arrived at the house, the father said: “let’s go in and have some supper and see if we can’t help you out”.

  As they walked in the older brother peaked downstairs to see what the noise was about. When he saw his younger brother walk in, he was livid. The Father yelled for the older son to come and eat but he never did. So the Father went upstairs to check on the older brother.

  As soon as he opened his door the older brother threw a fit. What’s he doing here? Haven’t you done enough for him? All he does is waste our money. I’m not like him, the only thing I cost you is my mouthy X-box subscription. I never leave this room. He is the one going out on the town living it up. He’s just here to bleed you dry. I’m not buying new stuff all the time. At least you could upgrade the Wi-Fi connection so I would lag when I’m online.


   The Father let out an exasperated sigh. “I never made you work for anything and let you stay here for free,” he explained, “Your brother fell on some hard times and I think I can help him learn some responsibility. Shouldn't I try to do that?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Know All Those Words, But That Sentence Makes No Sense To Me

  Let’s say you travel back in time six hundred years or so.  Luckily, you happen across a fellow that speaks English.  Upon hearing your tale, he describes you as nice, smart, and handsome.  Wouldn’t you feel good?   You shouldn’t.  As Sol Steinmetz in his book, Semantics Antics , explains; Nice originally meant someone who was foolish, ignorant, senseless, or absurd (middle English 1300). Smart for the first 300 years of its use meant causing pain, sharp, cutting, or severe, a sense that survives in the idiom "smart as a whip.” Handsome wasn’t complimentary. When coined around 1425, it just meant easily handled; it didn’t have its current positive connotation until 1590.   You might think he said you were a kind, intelligent, good looking bloke, when in reality he said you were a foolish pain easily dealt with.   Words have an annoying habit of changing meaning over time in the same language and it becomes even more compli...
Post a Comment
Read more

Master Your Self

  In a contest for the toughest president of the United States, it would be hard to go against Theodore Roosevelt.  He was known for his “manly” pursuits hunting big game, climbing the Matterhorn, participating in boxing match while president. (These weren’t play fights, he lost the vision on one eye because of them!)  Once before he was about to give a speech an assassin shot him in the chest.  Roosevelt refused to go to a hospital and insisted on giving his speech, still wearing his blood-soaked shirt!   Teddy might have become tough but he wasn’t born that way.  He was a sickly child that suffered from severe asthma that almost proved fatal.  As was a young boy, doctors discovered that he had a weak heart, and advised him to get a desk job and not strain himself.  He was homeschooled because of his many illnesses and spent most of his time indoors.   But then as a teen his father, whom Teddy Roosevelt revered, told his son, “ ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Until Midnight

    In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back.       I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...
Post a Comment
Read more