AIRPORT ENCOUNTER
Posted by Martha & Greg Singleton , Friday, July 25, 2008 9:26 AM
His name was Peter, he was seven years old and he was on his way back home to New York City. That’s about all we knew about that little boy from what he told us, but what we witnessed told plenty more.
During our recent trip to the East Coast, we spent a total of about twenty-four hours in an airport or on one of a variety of styles of aircraft we sampled. When you’re stuck in an airport, watching the “Departures” monitor while your flight time gets pushed back further and further, or when you’re on a runway waiting for your turn to take off, you have two choices. You can let the whole situation eat you alive, or you can sit back, make the best of it and people-watch. I usually choose the latter.
There is nowhere else you can go and observe such a wide swatch of life. People are coming and going, interacting and retreating into a shell, and enjoying each other’s company and getting on each other’s frazzled nerves. I always find the parent-child encounters to be the most interesting.
That’s how I met Peter. He was a bit small for his age, but he made up for it with his brilliance. He, apparently, was an airport observer like me, but he had the guts to say exactly what I was thinking. That provoked more than one “shhhhhhhhhhhhh” from his attentive Mom. Dad disappeared for a while, and I just assumed he was seeking an escape from the boredom. After a few minutes, though, he came back with a package under his arm, and he tossed it to Peter. “Here you go, Buddy,” he said. “Check this out!”
I immediately recognized the contents of Peter’s gift. It was a copy of the brand new Athlon College Football Annual that I had been thumbing through myself, earlier when I was at the magazine rack. You would have thought that Dad had uncovered buried treasure and placed it in his son’s hands. I have never seen such a display of unbridled enthusiasm.
Peter got down on his knees, using his chair as a podium, and began to drink in the contents of the magazine. The cover itself elicited his first observations.
“They have L.S.U. rated #9?! That’s ridiculous!” he exclaimed. “They’re the defending national champs!”
“They lost a lot of good players, Pete,” said Dad.
“How about number 72?”
“That was Glenn Dorsey,” said Dad. “Gone!”
“OH MY GOSH! He was the best defensive player in college football!”
“He’s with the Kansas City Chiefs now.”
Peter began daydreaming about his NFL team now. “I wish he was wearing New York Jets green.”
He opened the magazine and continued. “Do you think Florida can win it all, Dad?”
“They have some great players, like the Heisman Trophy winner.”
“Tim Tebow! What a great quarterback!”
I looked over at Peter’s Mom and she was smiling.
“He really knows his stuff,” I said.
“We really didn’t try to make him that way. He and his dad just talk about it and he drinks it in.”
Peter stood up quickly and raised his 200-page magazine high over his head. “Dad, I can’t wait until we can sit down together and read every bit of this!”
Could I ever identify with Peter! I had had the same reaction when I was his age and my dad brought me a new sports magazine. And I can remember when Matt and I would pore over every page of the new Texas Football issue together. I realize now that it’s never really the sport itself that makes those moments so memorable. Peter, Matt and I were passionate about it because it was an opportunity that we got to spend with our dads, sharing thoughts and ideas with each other. Sports aren’t the connection. Relationship is.
So, when it comes to passing on our faith to our children, we earn the privilege with the time we’ve spent sharing life together. Matt told me just the other day, “I don’t think that, at the time, I always got what we were talking about. But, I knew that if it was important enough for you to spend time with me talking about it, then it really must have been important.”
Do you want your kids to share your passion for Christ? Do you want them to be attentive to what you have to say about your faith? Here’s a simple equation - time = priority. Make time to talk to your kids. Your stories reveal to them your heart.
Greg
