One evening I was in the kitchen preparing dinner.

My son Jed approached me and started to say something. Then he stopped, grinned at me and said, “Nah, never mind.” And he turned and walked away, leaving me standing there wondering.

Well, a short time later, I heard this plaintive cry coming from the direction of the basement, “Dad!”

It was Jed. It didn’t sound too desperate, I was busy, so I ignored it.

A few seconds later it came again, “Dad!”

“What?” I hollered back.

There was no answer, so I went back to work.

A few seconds later, “Dad!”

There was a little more urgency in his voice now.

“What do you want?” I said.

There was no response. Then, a second or two later, it came again, “Dad!”

Now he was sounding desperate. This made no sense. So I went downstairs finally to see what was going on, and when I got to the bottom of the stairs, there was my son lying on his weight bench with a weighted barbell across his chest. His face was turning red. It didn’t take me long to figure out what had happened.

A few days before, he had approached me wanting to “max out on weight,” as he called it, which meant that he wanted to lift more than he’d ever done before. Now, I warned him not to do this.

So now here he was, pinned flat on his back, his face beat red, and unable to move. Sure enough, he had loaded up the bar, laid down on the bench and lifted it off, and down it had come, flat onto his chest! He was unable, try as he might, to get it back up.

Well, I could see that he was in no immediate danger. I started laughing.

“I ought to just leave you here,” I said.

“No!” he cried in desperation.

Now, since I had a captive audience, a figured that a teaching moment was in order. I asked him if he’d learned anything.

Emphatically he shook his head, ‘yes – ah, yes!’

Well, I took pity on him, and I lifted the weights off.

But you know, the more I thought about that, there is something about that experience that seems hauntingly familiar. I don’t know how many times in my life I have overestimated my abilities, underestimated life, and wound up spiritually and emotionally pinned, out of breath, with the world on my chest.

I am so grateful that I am God’s son. He lets me try, and has always come to my rescue when it was too much for me. And you know, I don’t ever remember Him laughing at me or threatening me as He set me free, but set me free He has always done.