Where I Leave Off and You Begin
By Bob Perks © 2001

Have you ever said, "Boy I'd like to be a fly on the wall and hear that conversation!" Simply meaning that you'd like to be there and overhear what was about to be said.
For some reason I find myself like a "fly on the wall" many times. Am I eavesdropping, being nosey, or snooping? Or am I just more aware of life around me?
I believe it's because I notice more things than the average person. I enjoy being aware and I challenge you to do to the same. For our lives are just a moment, a flash in eternity. Like standing in line for hours to see a Disney attraction and before you know it, it's over.
What a gift it was for me to hear this conversation between a father and son just a few days ago.
"Dad, what do they mean "Like father, like son?" asked the young man.
"Well, sometimes a parent and child are so much alike that it's obvious to the people around them. When a father and son are close they share the same interests, act and think basically the same way, " Dad replied.
"That's a good thing, right?" the boy asked.
"Well, in most cases it is. But if the father was a bad example and the son models him, it's just a bad thing all around," Dad said with a smile.
"What about us? Are we the same?" the son asked.
"I do believe we are, son. That's a good thing. You know that I've tried to be fair with people. I go to church and volunteer a lot. I help around the house because Mom works, too. And I make sure that you and I spend a lot of time together," Dad said proudly.
"So you think that I'm the same way?"
"Yes, I do. I'm proud to say that you are a great son. The whole family if proud of you."
"Like father, like son." I'm proud of you, too, Dad" the boy said with a big smile.
Then Dad shared a story.
"My Daddy was the same way. What I am, he was, too. So I've tried to pass it along to you. The day my Daddy died he said to me that he tried to raise me the way God would. If he did a good enough job, after he died it would be hard to tell where he left off and I began," the father said, pausing for moment in reflection.
The he continued, "He always thought that was the way God wanted it. So that we would be good, do good and act according to His way. So that it would be hard to see where He left off and I began."
Then the son stood up and walked over and faced his Father.
"Dad, I promise to always make you proud. But I don't ever want you to "leave off." I don't think that I could begin again," he said, with his voice cracking with emotion.
Dad reached out and hugged the boy and said, "Like father, like son. I didn't want my Daddy to "leave off" either.
I thought about what I had observed here. How powerful the thought that we should live our lives in such a way that it would be hard to see where God leaves off and we begin.
"Like father, like son."

"I believe in you!"

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48”