A Story about Dad

I always hated telling Dad that I had done something wrong when we were kids. I guess it was because his opinion of me meant so much., it used to tear me up when I had failed him.
I remember something that happened when I was five or six years old. Back then another thing I just couldn't bring myself to do was go straight home after school. There was always an invitation to go to my friend Kipper's house to play, and the canyon nearby always held infinite irresistible promises of fun and adventure. The "flats", the "ditch" and an unusually large population of "horny toads".
After being told time and again that I had better get home before sunset, one evening as I was walking up to our front door it dawned on me that I was in trouble... it was dark! Just barely dark, but definitely not light anymore. On top of that, I was covered head to toe in kid-magnetic dirt from the great outdoors. I stopped in my tracks. I could hear the family having dinner in the house. If I went inside Dad would be angry, so I sat down on the brick planter just outside the front door to think through my options... sometimes I wonder if I'm mildly autistic; I can spend an hour looking at every brand of cereal, coffee or juice in the store trying to decide which one I should buy, and constantly changing my mind. I've had to work at reminding myself in such situations that the stakes are low. I'll really be okay if I don't choose today the cereal I feel like eating tomorrow morning.
When I'd first come home I was probably pretty close to being on time. However, I sat, worried and thought about things long enough to realize that dinner had ended and it had become even darker than when I first got to the front door. I was one forlorn little boy and I started to cry. After a little while Dad heard me, came out to get me, and laughed at how ridiculous I looked. He wiped the tears from my face and sent me to get a bath and had dinner on the table for me when I was clean.
Dad wasn't waiting for me to come home so he could snap my head off. I've ended up seeing God pretty much the same way. Because of that I consider it one of the big lessons I've learned in life and I'm grateful I didn't forget that night before I could learn from it.