Recently, I have been hooking up with old friends on Facebook. I am not calling any of you old, I am simply stating that we haven't seen each other in a long time. I have to say that I have had some amazing relationships over the course of my life. I am thankful for every person in my life, past or present.
I would like to start by saying that we cannot dwell on or in the past, but we can and MUST learn from it. The question is: what can I learn from my past? What can I glean from those decisions that I have made that can be helpful today?
The fact that I have a son who is about to turn 12 years old in a month or so is contributing the most to this time of reflection. I want him to know the truth about the changes a middle school boy goes through...the physical, mental, and emotional changes. Boy, oh boy!
Girls, girls, girls! I think that is all that was on my mind at that age...yeah, relationships, that is a big subject. It is a big SCARY subject seeing how I don't know much more about girls now than I did back then. Seriously, I made some poor decisions as a teenager when it came to girls. In fact, I would like to apologize to those women I may have hurt or disrespected...whew!
I am by no means a perfect husband but I AM trying. One of my greatest desires is to see my son make better decisions than I did and become a better man than I have become. It is my responsibility as his father to reflect the character and nature of our Father in Heaven. I have made it my conviction to be the greatest influence in his adolescent years second only to God.
My dad NEVER talked to me about girls. I remember on one occasion when we were visiting relatives in Tennessee. We were driving somewhere with my Great-Aunt Thelma and we passed a house where a girl was out mowing the grass. Dad looks over and tells me "there you go." I honestly had no idea what he was talking about! My aunt said he was talking about the girl but he never did that before and never did it again. I hope I can be a little less awkward about it than that...no offense to my dad.
I want Tyson to know how God and I expect him to pray for, find, and treat his future wife. I am thankful for the relationships I have had. They have made me who I am today but I am not proud of some of the things I did in those relationships. I pray Tyson will look back on this time and be proud of the fact that God was in his life and he made good decisions. I want to make that kind of impact on him...pray for me.
Justin
P.S. I also have a daughter...please pray for me a lot!
