1 of 1

Key Bible Verse: The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter (Luke 22:61a). Bonus Reading: Luke 18:24; 19:5; 20:17; 21:1.

Not long ago, my family took a cruise. As I sat on the deck drinking coffee, I overheard a conversation between a 10-year-old boy and his mother.

"But why, Mom?" the boy asked, "Why did he even bother to come?"

I could see his mother struggle to frame her answer. "Well," she said, "he's here. And he paid for all of us to go on this trip."

"He's not here!" her son shouted. "He's been on the phone or on his computer the whole time! Doesn't he want to be with me?"

You can't get much closer, physically, than spending seven days in a tiny cabin on a cruise ship. But what broke this boy's heart was seeing double—having a dad physically present but emotionally and relationally absent.

As I think back, I'm ashamed at how many times I've looked past Kari to catch a meaningless play in some game, or hurried through a bedtime story with Laura so I could get back to the computer to finish a project.

Jesus looked at people when he was with them—really looked at them. It didn't matter if he was tired or busy. People didn't "see double" when they looked at the Lord.

—John Trent in Christian Parenting Today

• When you get home from work this week, really pay attention to your family or friends.

Thought to Apply: The first duty of love is to listen.

—PAUL TILLICH (late theologian and philosopher)

Credits: Adapted from— Tuesday: Christian Parenting Today (11-12/99)

Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity. For reprint information click here.

To sign up for a risk-free trial issue of Men of Integrity click here.

To order multiple copies of Men of Integrity for your men's group, click here.

 1 of 1

share this page

Prayer for the Week

				Try an Issue of Men of Integrity Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Men of Integrity coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Men of Integrity as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

FREE Newsletter Sign up for the Men of Integrity Newsletter (All fields required)    RSS Feed   RSS Help