One of the crucial things that must happen in the parenting of teenagers is recognizing God’s moments of change, Tripp puts it. Parenting young adults takes *time.
Fathers, please be wary of getting much involved in anything more than faithfulness to Church and your work. I look back to all the times that I needed to talk with my Dad at all the wrong times. I remember going down to that basement and seeing my dad there surrounded by computer problems, bills, projects (all in between his 3 to 4 day trips-he is an airline pilot) but more often than not, he would drop everything and listen to my horrible attempt at communicating my petty and confusing “issues.”
But, if it were not for those sacrifices he made, I would have been forced to look elsewhere..Like my own confused head or the culture out there –just ready and waiting to stuff my brain with lies and poison.
Tripp has a great little story on pp.20,21 about how he came home one night stinkin’ tired and purposefully anticipating a few hours completely alone to drink his diet coke, and grab that remote. But, the moment he walked in, he knew that his plans to veg out and relax went up in smoke, for his son was in a bind and was frustrated over some petty squabble with his brother.
It was a petty issue, but the time was right for dad to be used to grab the mind, the heart of his boy. He says, “Here was one of those unexpected moments of opportunity, one of those mundane moments ordained by a loving and sovereign God where the heart of my teenager was being exposed…This was God’s moment.. A petty argument with his brother opened the door to discussing things that were far from petty… Ethan saw himself.”
Go and do likewise. This is parenting young people. “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage-with *great patience* and careful instruction (II Tim 4:2
).