Kids R Us

Kids R Us Curtis Johnson

About 15 years ago, a friend after being introduced to my youngest son, said to me, "He is a spitting image of you". How often have we heard such a comment? In essence, my friend was saying that my son and I looked alike, our DNA was linked together, and there was a host of similarities between us.

Not withstanding, the likenesses of my son and me and even that of identical twins can only go so far. In spite of the resemblances, there are major distinctions between any two people regardless of the relationship. Our finger prints are different, and God has made us unique. Moreover, God also had a prescribed purpose in His mind when He made and formed each of us in our mother's womb.

Sometimes, the similarities are so remarkable that we have to pause and say, "Wow! Really?'' The truth is that I may be able to express myself in a certain manner and my son in yet another, but the roots of the behavior patterns are very much the same.

Let me explain. In many respects, I am instinctively a very cautious person and yet in certain matters I am daring, risky, over the top, and on the edge. Yet I find myself advising and cautioning my adult son to be careful and cautious. Occasionally, I have said to him, "Why on earth would you do that?" For example. When I questioned him about driving so far when his fuel indicator displayed "empty", his reply to me was, "I wanted to see how far I could go on empty".

I later considered the fact that I have done similar things of an 'over the edge nature', but never behind the wheel of an automobile running on fumes. Though our dispatch and expressions of behavior may be wrapped in a different package and delivered in a different generation and culture, we are still connected and bound by our blood line.

Though not always the case, if my son is at times guilty of doing stupid stuff, chances are great that I have done the same stupid stuff in some other way. For example, I recall doing something as a young man before my 'spitting image son' was born. At the time, I called it 'faith'; but now, I would not hesitate to blame it on my youth and call it stupid. I drove hundreds of miles to a church meeting without a usable spare tire. When I was forced to pull into a service station, the attendant could not believe that I would do such a thing.

We are uniquely and distinctively made; and each of us is our own person. Yet in another absolute sense, we as parents, for better or worse, have to deal with the fact that 'our kids are us'. 05042017cjPSFB

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