Yes, that is Ben tonight at Chick-fil-A eating a pretty thick small chocolate shake with a spoon.  I met up with him as his mom had him out shopping at a clothes store after I had been out all day with some visiting clergy (they were great!).  And from the looks of it you might think that the great reward was that chocolate shake, perhaps given because he had been such a good and well behaved boy, but you would be wrong.  That would assume he didn’t have MY DNA and also a heart for bribery.  The reward was my actually being able to go hang with him.

You see on my way home my wife said I could come and meet them…….after all, what husband wouldn’t want to follow his wife around a clothes store?  So initially it was a search and rescue mission.  I was going to get him out of there, hell or high water.

But actually, it was not as difficult as I imagined it might be…..in fact, it was ridiculously easy.  We didn’t even have to act up, which is our normal modus operandi.  It was just a straight walk out the door, first to Meijer to look for ammo for the gun Cowboy Grandpa got him for Christmas (caps, the old school on a roll kind) and then a trip to the Chick-fil-A.

And it was a great reward, a true blessing, to hang with him.  He and I actually hang a lot, and it is important to me.  Tonight it was for his milkshake.

I thank God for any of these times I can spend with my children.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+