Kidnapping a laptop

Who: one 16 year old daughter (names are changed to protect the guilty)

Where: at a summer leadership conference at a local university

What: E-mail updates

Why: we’ll talk later.

The first e-mail was unexpected: “Mom, I’m writing this in our bathroom on Steve’s laptop computer. I can only write until the battery dies because Justin snuck it out of their room and Steve doesn’t know he has it. Justin used it first and I don’t know what he did. We’re having a lot of fun here! Love, Kerry. BTW: Justin says don’t tell his mom what we’re doing!”

I wrote back: “Is this a joke?????? I think you and Justin are having TOO MUCH FUN!”

Later that day, she wrote: “Bad news. Steve found out we borrowed his computer and he is MAD! He threatened to tell Mrs. Blake and then we’d get sent home. So Justin tied him up and gagged him and put him in their tub til he promises not to tell. I miss you! The conference is really good and I’m glad I’m here. Love, Kerry.”

My e-mail probably scorched cyberspace as it screeched back to her with advice: “Don’t let her ship you home in a box. And be sure to FEED Steve. He could get hungry. Offer him some chocolate chip cookies – maybe he’ll forgive you both.”

The next e-mail was slower in arriving, probably because the watched Thunderbird inbox doesn’t boil. “Dear Mom, I’m glad you knew it was a joke! The college has a bunch of computers we can use and I wanted to practice some creative writing. [Where’d she get an idea like that?] I made it all up.”

Do you think God laughs with us? He must laugh at us sometimes. Can’t you just see him shaking his head, “Child, child, what were you thinking?”

Someone said that God must have a sense of humor or he’d never have created monkeys. I’m thinking that he must have a sense of humor or he’d never expect mothers to understand 11-year-old boys (or 16-year-old daughters).

My son recently told me that he likes the color purple unless it looks like pink.

I’m thinking God probably laughs, too.

It’s all about relationship. Remember when Jesus called the Father “Abba,” which means “Daddy.” Don’t we love a tender relationship? It’s the fabric of our lives. We’re torn if it is lost. Whether with family or with God, we love relationship.

Tend to the relationship and laugh with the Lord sometimes.

“He fell to the ground and prayed… "Papa, Father…”

Mark 14:35-36 (The Message)