Have you ever wanted to run away from home? Have you ever run away from home? I did! It wasn’t recently. In fact, it was over a half-century ago. I was 5 or 6 years old and I had a strong difference of opinion with my parents over something long since forgotten. I ran into my room, grabbed a clean shirt from my chest of drawers, put it into a red bandana, and tied the bandana into a bag on the end of a baseball bat so that I would look like a hobo. I then marched to the front door and announced to anyone who cared, “I’m running away!”
I stepped outside the white, wood-frame house at the corner of East Lynwood Drive and Hybrook Street in Beaumont, Texas. And do you know what? It was raining! I walked around on the garage side of the house and stood under the eve where I could not be seen and with the rain dripping inches from my face. Soon there were tears running down my cheeks as I decided I’d be better off not running away that day. Have you ever tried running away from home? It’s not easy – especially if it is raining!
This Sunday’s Father’s Day text is about a father whose younger son runs away from home. His older son stays home. Neither son has his act together, yet the father loves them both like crazy. Be in worship to share the message from Luke 15:11-32, “The Prodigal Father – A Love without End.”
