Many fast food restaurants have incredible play areas for kids. Places such as Chick-Fil-A and McDonald’s provide some of the best free entertainment for children to run wild and release their pent up energy. We tend to steer clear of places such as Chuck-E-Cheese because that pushes a parent’s stress level off the chart! Since we live in the frigid north, the winter keeps us cooped up in our warm house from November until March and sometimes even April. Today I ventured out to Chick-Fil-A so the kids could play in the fun area, but I always warn my son to be careful around the other kids. He tends to ignore little girls and boys who are half his size and ends up knocking them down on their diaper. I really am waiting for the time he mauls over the wrong kid with a six foot seven dad who will beat me up. Hopefully Leah is there to defend me. She takes Pilates. Even as I write, Ty just shaped his fingers as a gun and pointed them at a three-year-old. I’m so dead.
When my kids were really little, they loved play areas as long as they stayed on the ground, but the attraction of what was out of their reach was too much to resist. They would see all the older kids having the time of their life in the tunnels above them…they wanted to experience what those kids were experiencing. So when Leah or I were not looking, they would slowly make their way up the steps into the unknown. Usually after a few moments we would hear a shrieking noise and realize our child was stuck in one of the ascending tunnels. What they thought looked appealing, quickly turned into despair. As their father, I would rush to their aid as they cried out for help.
This situation reminds of the words of David in Psalm 40:1-3, “I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be astounded. They will put their trust in the LORD.” Are you stuck today? Cry out to the Lord and wait patiently for Him to come.
