Swimming Upstream: “Beware of Parents’ Prayers”

Many years ago, I worked as a maintenance man in a motel. Some of the other workers were track athletes from the local university. One of them was from Kenya.

Like most Kenyans, he had a laid back, easy-going attitude. Nothing seemed to upset him. Whenever we passed in the hallways, we always exchanged greetings.

One time, a word of knowledge crossed my mind. And as usual, I blurted it out. “So, you’re a Christian, right?” I said.

He shrugged his shoulders. “Yes,” he replied.

“And your Christian parents are praying for you to return home because you have a calling on your life for Kenya, right?” I said.

“You’re right again,” he said with a big smile.

“Well,” I continued, “did you know that they have now changed their prayers? They are now praying, ‘Lord, whatever it takes to bring our son home, do it; and do it now.'”

He held up a hand to shush me. “Listen, man, I can earn seventy-five thousand dollars this summer, running in European track meets. And next, year when I graduate with my international finance degree, I will be able to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and live in Paris. I’m not ever returning to Kenya.”

“Oh,” I begged, “don’t do that. Please, obey the call of God on your life. Something bad will happen to you if you don’t.”

He turned and walked away.

A few months later on a cold morning, I walked in the back door of the motel. There was my Kenyan friend with his pant leg rolled up. Blood gushed out of a wound on his knee.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, rushing over by him.

Tears streamed down his face. “I was late so I ran through the parking lot. Somehow, I didn’t see the ice and slipped on it. My running career is over because no one ever returns from a ripped up knee like this one. I’m finished.”

I put my arm around his shoulders and hugged him. He nodded his appreciation. Then, the ambulance arrived and he was wheeled out on a stretcher. I never saw him again.

There will be those who think this is a tragic, sad story, but not me. I rejoice that a merciful Lord answered the prayers of loving parents who wanted the best for their son.

Should we not pray the same way for our own children?

Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s  a little of this and a little of that, all written  to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian journeys.