One day, after a fierce race to get the kids to school on time, I  finally looked at my son Steve, who was about ten at the time. Really looked, I mean. The top of his head looked as if a tsunami has rolled over it.

“Did you comb your hair?” I challenged. “I didn’t have time,” he answered defensively.

I arranged the stricken locks as best I could and sent him off.

You might suspect that I wondered what people would think but for fathers that’s not really a problem. Nobody blames dad if the kids look like street bums. Mom gets the blame. Even the kid gets off the hook.

“That poor child! Where was his mother?”

That’s probably why men and their sons don’t worry too much about things like uncombed hair and wrinkled shirts. We can go to church with vertical stripes, an orange shirt with big red polka dots,  sporting a tie with blue horizontal stripes.

You think we’re worried about it? “What were you thinking?” she says in exasperation.
Let’s look in his head to see what he was thinking, “Boy, the Cowboys stunk up the place yesterday. If they don’t get another offensive tackle they’re sunk.”

Things like clothes don’t worry us. I know that women today are liberated but liberation or not, it’s wives and mothers who get criticized when we’re slouches. “What wife would let her husband out with a wrinkled shirt?”

I love it. Life is good isn’t it?

I don’t know who put this system in place but I’d like to thank him.

I almost said that I was sure it was a man, but I’m not certain. I think ladies love to see other ladies goof up so they can be horrified. “I’ll tell you, you’d never see my son out in public like that!”

He Got the Blame

It’s like the Lord. We sinned, He bore the blame. We messed up and He was crucified.

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.” (1 Pet. 3:17, NIV)

If I rejoice because of Christ becoming my scapegoat, it’s because He’s made me a son of God, my sins are forgiven, and I have the hope of eternal life because of Him. But, I can’t laugh about it, or take it lightly. No one ever paid a price like He paid for us. My response is to love Him with my whole heart and serve Him with all my passion.

Yes, it’s nice to have someone to take the blame. But, one little word of wisdom about your wife getting blamed for your laziness. if she finds out about it, she’s not going to be the only unhappy one in the house.

She’s got ways of making you wish you’d combed the little guy’s hair.
_______________________
Hmmm …

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” (Eric Shinseki)