Because I Said So………

Yeah, that’s what I said, because I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Well, actually, that isn’t entirely true. I could think of plenty more things to say, but I didn’t feel like getting into a long drawn out discussion, or argument, about someone else’s undependable or irresponsible behavior.

So when I said no and she asked if she could ask why, I said that she could most certainly ask. So she asked why. And I said,

“Because I said so”.

I hoped that would be good enough for now, and surprisingly, it was. So she left.

My 20 year old step-daughter likes to take my dog with her to Ohio to visit her boyfriend (the step-daughter’s boyfriend, not the dog’s). I do not like this idea. I don’t like the idea of my step-daughter going there, since they live like a married couple (when they are not married), so I don’t like her taking the dog there either.
She knows how I feel about the whole thing, but does not seem to care.

This is my dog. The cute little Shiba Inu.




Ain’t she purty?











Last month, I tried to see past all that and be the “nice guy” and let her take my dog to Ohio. She promised to have her back that Friday night. She even begged me to let her take her and swore that she’d be home by that Friday night.
So I caved and said okay.

It was raining pretty hard that night and she called with a sob story about how she couldn't make it home that night but promised she’d have the dog home the next morning. I tried to be “nice”, and said okay.

The next morning came and we got a call and someone had to go to the mall where my step-daughter works and get the dog since she “suddenly remembered” that she had to work that day and didn’t have time to bring the dog home. I told her mother (my wife) that this is unacceptable and will not happen again.

This is not the first time she’s not kept her promise and proved herself to be undependable and unreliable. I just simply cannot trust her to keep her word.
This sort of thing happens way too often.

So this time I said, “No”.
(Even though the thunderstorm she'd be driving into this time, to go there, is twice as bad as when she couldn't bring her home last time).

I don’t think she’s figured out exactly why, but she seemed to know enough by now not to push it.

The Bible tells us to train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old, they will not part from it. Apparently, no one trained up this child in the way she should go. They did however, train her up in the way she is going.

Parents beware, you are training up your children in the way they are going to go. Whether you like it or not. I understand there are some exceptions to this, but we’re not talking about those right now.

If your child isn’t going the way you believe you’ve trained him up, please don’t give up hope. My older brother went so far in the opposite direction that everyone had all but given up on him. No one expected him to live to see his 30th birthday. Even him.

But then, when he was 32, he found Jesus. Or maybe Jesus found him?
All I know is that at 3AM one morning, in the Spring of 1989, my phone rang and I heard my brother screaming with shouts of joy that he accepted Jesus into his heart and wanted me to be the first to know.

He was trained up in the way he should go, by the same parents, in the same household as me, and when he got older, he came back to it. He’s 50 now, and still going strong for the Lord.

So, I still have hope for my step-daughter.
Do I trust her? No.
Do I love her? Yes. Yes, I do. As if she were my own.
Do I pray for her? You bet your sweet bippy! Every day.

By the grace of God, she’ll come back to Him.

But in the meantime, my puppy will stay home with me.


Blessings.