June 26 – “Favorites”

A second round of Father’s Day occurred yesterday.  Round one was pretty good in itself.  On Sunday I got phone calls from my boys, watched Cailyn play a softball game, and we were hosted for a shrimp gumbo dinner by Kel and his family. 

So yesterday was a bit of a surprise when Father’s Day gifts from two of my sons arrived.  I got a text from Josh apologizing that his arrived late, but “I’m sure it was worth the wait.”  Since nothing had arrived yet, I assured him I would grant my impression as to its value upon its arrival.  Almost immediately he apologized again for the confusion.  Seems Alexa had notified him that his package had been delivered, so he assumed it was the one to me.  Actually the notification was for something else Christi had ordered.  Oops. 

Later on, however, the package from Amazon did arrive.  And it’s a good thing Josh had told me it was coming.  There was no return address anywhere.  No indication of who it was from.  That becomes important in a minute.  I opened it up to discover a coffee mug with just the right wording on it: “My Favorite Child Gave Me This Mug.”  It gets better.  Seems his middle child Caleb, in a total coincidence, gave him that very same mug for Father’s Day.  Nice.  Us forgotten middle children have to stick together.

Just as I finished opening the package and admiring the mug, Chris announced that Nathan and April and Cailyn had just pulled up.  Actually they had an extra one as well.  Noa was spending the night with them.  As they entered the front door, I held my new mug up to my face, caressing it so that the “Favorite Child” message was clearly visible to our new guests.  Nathan saw it and immediately claimed ownership - of the message, if not the mug.  The card they gave me was pretty much a classic as well.  A little hamster-rat sitting in an easy chair on the cover with the message: “It’s Father’s Day, DadDad (actually “Grandpa” had been scratched out and the proper title inserted), Spend your time doing what you like to do best …”  I then opened the card to reveal the rest of the message: “And when you’re done bragging about me … move on to something else you enjoy.”  And written inside, in Nathan’s distinctive hand, was an extra little quip.  Something about the “favorite son.”  Hmm.  Competitive much?  Gotta love my boys.

1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Father, thank you for all three of my “favorite” boys.  Amen.