DISCIPLESHIP: TE ACHING THE YOU NG TO ADU LT BY SARAH BRACEY
It was a beautiful, spring day. I was driving home from a friend’s house when my car started to jerk and sputter, eventually rolling to a stop on the roadside. Sitting there, I did what I had always done when a car decided to give up on life: I called my dad. “Hey, Dad, it’s me! Well, it’s happened again. Do you think you can come down and look at my car?” I had always leaned on my father when it came to car troubles. When I was first learning to drive, I had some real lemons, so getting stuck on the side of the road became a regular, frustrating occurrence. Fortunately, I was usually not too far from home when the clunker reached its final destination, and I could always count on my dad to come to my rescue. This time, though, was different. I wasn’t just down the road. Two months earlier, I had exerted some of my firstborn independence and moved to Nashville (two states away). I was hoping to make a new start in my young, adult life. On the phone, my dad let out a heavy sigh followed by a long pause. Then he finally handed me a bitter pill to swallow: “Not this time. Look, you’re going to have to figure this one out on your own. It’s time for you to learn how to take care of yourself.”
My mind began to race. Take care of myself? How could he do this to me? Didn’t he love me? The first of many tears began to sting my eyes as I yelled into the phone something incomprehensible before hanging up and slumping down into the gravel. I was on my own. While I was incredibly hurt and angry at my dad, I slowly began to appreciate this life lesson over the following months and years. As young people, we desire independence, but on our terms. I wanted rescue when my independence got me into trouble. How alike we are to the Children of Israel. Godly Disci pleshi p In the book of Exodus, the people of Israel groaned during their enslavement, and it reached the ears of God (Exodus 2:23). God had assured them of their escape, but they became convinced Moses led them to the wilderness to die once they turned to see Pharaoh’s army pursuing
DECEMBER 2020 - JANUARY 2021 | ONE
9
