Not a moped!

May 29, 2007

By David B. Smith

As we sat at the kitchen table he said to me, “Dad, I want a moped.”

I went silent. This was my 15-year-old who was looking at driver’s education in just a few weeks. He began to tell me all the wonderful benefits to owning a moped. All I could think of was the first-grader climbing onto the big yellow bus and waving goodbye to his mother and me. I wanted him back.

When I finally came out of the coma I stammered, “Let’s think about this before we go and buy a moped.”

I’ll admit my first reaction when he mentioned the moped was to say “no” outright. It wasn’t based on any information I possessed. This was going to be one of those, “because I said so” answers. That answer had been trustworthy in the past. Why not now? After all, this is the child who used to rejoice at crashing his toy cars into the wall — over and over and over again.

Everything changes, especially our children. We probably see change more clearly in them than anywhere else. We, on the other hand? My wife and I are still the same young couple who walked down the aisle last week, right?

As they grow we watch our children transition from complete dependence to limited independence. Then the dark age of adolescence dawns.

Lurking in the shadows from childhood to adulthood are plenty of scary monsters. Most of these are creatures of our own making. Our overprotection clashes with our children’s swelling independence and often makes mountains out of molehills.

How could I agree to allow my son to drive and put the world at risk? I know I can’t protect him (and others) forever, and I know he will begin making more of his own decisions. But a moped?

So how do we handle the changes? Let’s look at the Scriptures. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5,6, NIV).

Change can send us running to our own understanding. I think I have demonstrated to myself the failings of that resource, but for some reason I still go there. Recognizing the gale-force winds of change and their effect on us should send us running instead to the Father. To lay aside my understanding and seek for His will glorifies God. Even when it involves my son.

Let’s be honest, I need this more than my son because I know all the bad things that can happen. Trusting in the Lord has to be my only option. It allows the Father to direct my path and my son’s.

I’m hoping the whole moped thing just turns out to be a fad, but no matter what, I have resolved to carry it to Him in prayer.

“Dear Heavenly Father, please, not a moped.”

David B. Smith pastors Creek Road Baptist Church in Cincinnati.