{"id":35791,"date":"2023-05-11T17:03:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T17:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/apology-his-kids-needed\/"},"modified":"2023-05-11T17:03:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T17:03:00","slug":"apology-his-kids-needed","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/apology-his-kids-needed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Apology His Kids Needed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Author Pete Greig shares the following story in <em>How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I was walking the darkened streets near our house one night, reviewing the day before bed, remembering how I&#39;d driven Sammy [my wife] and the boys to the cinema and how someone had cut us off. I&#39;d yelled at him. Sammy had yelled at me. I&#39;d yelled at Sammy. Hadn&rsquo;t she seen how dangerously the other guy was driving? Had she forgotten that we had vulnerable children in the car? Didn&#39;t she know there was such a thing as righteous anger? She&#39;d gone silent.<\/p>\n<p>We arrived at the cinema. The film had been great. Life had moved on. No big deal. But now in the stillness of these darkened streets, as I returned to that moment, it seemed that God was siding with my wife. I sighed. &quot;Okay, I&#39;m sorry. I admit it: I lost my temper. I shouldn&#39;t have yelled at that driver. Lord, help me to be more patient tomorrow.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>There was a pause before I sensed him telling me to apologize to our sons. This thought annoyed me, and I found myself protesting. &quot;That&#39;s ridiculous. You&#39;re making this bigger than it is. My kids don&#39;t need me to apologize. They won&#39;t even remember such a trivial incident. Do you have any idea what the traffic is like around here?&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Ten minutes later, I was sitting on Hudson&#39;s bed. &quot;Son, I just want to say sorry to you for something. Do you remember me yelling at that man on the way to the cinema?&quot; Immediately, he nodded. &quot;I shouldn&#39;t have done that. Mum was right. Christians are supposed to be patient and kind. I set you a bad example. That&#39;s not how I want you to grow up and treat people. I&#39;m sorry.&quot; Right away, he put his arms around my neck and squeezed me tight. &quot;That&#39;s okay, Dad.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>A minute later, I was in the room next door, making the same speech to Danny, and the same thing happened. He immediately knew exactly what I was talking about. He hadn&#39;t forgotten either. He listened to my apology and didn&#39;t think it was crazy. He hugged me and told me it was okay. It&#39;s a silly, mundane story, and that&#39;s the whole point. We are changed&#8211;conformed into the likeness of Christ&#8211;through a thousand small choices like these.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[440],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3372,3414,3425,3569,3599,3664,3669,3691,3967,3968,3970,3971,4189,4191,4213,4320,4425,4596,4765,4825,4853,5132,5256],"tax_ctp_topics":[382,390],"class_list":["post-35791","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-accountability","tax_ctp_tags-anger","tax_ctp_tags-apology","tax_ctp_tags-children","tax_ctp_tags-christlikeness","tax_ctp_tags-confession-of-sin","tax_ctp_tags-conflict-resolution","tax_ctp_tags-conviction-of-sin","tax_ctp_tags-fathers-day","tax_ctp_tags-fatherhood","tax_ctp_tags-fathering","tax_ctp_tags-fathers","tax_ctp_tags-humble","tax_ctp_tags-humiliation","tax_ctp_tags-image-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-kids","tax_ctp_tags-marriage","tax_ctp_tags-parenting","tax_ctp_tags-rationalization","tax_ctp_tags-restoration","tax_ctp_tags-role-models","tax_ctp_tags-temper","tax_ctp_tags-vulnerability"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Apology His Kids Needed - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/apology-his-kids-needed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Apology His Kids Needed - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Author Pete Greig shares the following story in How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People: I was walking the darkened streets near our house one night, reviewing the day before bed, remembering how I&#039;d driven Sammy [my wife] and the boys to the cinema and how someone had cut us off. I&#039;d yelled Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/apology-his-kids-needed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/apology-his-kids-needed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/apology-his-kids-needed\/\",\"name\":\"The Apology His Kids Needed - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-11T17:03:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-11T17:03:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/apology-his-kids-needed\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/apology-his-kids-needed\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/apology-his-kids-needed\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Apology His Kids Needed\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Apology His Kids Needed - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/apology-his-kids-needed\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Apology His Kids Needed - CT Pastors","og_description":"Author Pete Greig shares the following story in How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People: I was walking the darkened streets near our house one night, reviewing the day before bed, remembering how I&#39;d driven Sammy [my wife] and the boys to the cinema and how someone had cut us off. 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