I received a call from a parent at church this past Lord’s Day.  He wanted to alert me to an incident that happened just after our church’s fellowship meal.  There was a sudden pop, and then the sound of a child crying.  The room went suddenly silent (except for the child who presumably was the owner of the now-deceased balloon.)  Not much of an incident really, he just wanted to alert me to the fact that my son had popped his child’s balloon.  This didn’t sound charactaristic of my son.  If it had been a few years prior I would have believed it immediately but the child who lost the balloon was in a much younger age group than my son generally takes interest in these days.  However, I apologized to the concerned parent and told him I would address the situation with my son.

Admittedly this is a tempest in a tea-pot but I wanted to give my son the opportunity to confess to what he had done so we could pray about it.  Also I would be able turn this incident into a teaching oppurtunity.  When I confronted him with this information, though, he said he didn’t do it.  He said he was on the other side of the room.  I asked him several times in several different ways over the course of the evening all the while constantly assuring him he wouldn’t be in trouble if he just confessed to what he had done.  Even upon being reminded of how God views a lying tongue, my son stuck to what he knew to be the truth.

I left a message for the parent to call me back so I could get some more information because my son was holding to his story.  A short time later the parent did call back and said it had actually been another child.  The parents had assumed it was my son for which reason I’m still not completely clear.  However, they asked their child and she identified a completely different child as the perpetrator.

Now came the learning opportunity.  It was MY learning opportunity.  I went to my son and told him that I now knew he was telling the truth and I apologized to him for doubting him.  I told him that I was proud of him for holding to the truth in the face of a disbeliving parent and even in the face of punishment.  It showed me that the fruits of the Spirit are beginning to ripen within my son’s heart.

The only remaining downside to this incident is why my son was presumed to be the guilty party.  If only they could see him and know him as I do.  He is my son, and I love him.  And today, I’m proud of him.  Praise God.