The Dad Difference by Bryan Loritts

Author:Bryan Loritts [Loritts, Bryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2020-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Great fathers place a premium on giving their children the RITE kind of experiences over gifts. Things wear out and expire. Experiences endure, marking us forever.

Chapter 13

THE AIRPLANE

Some years ago, I was on an airplane. When about seven or eight thousand feet in the air, climbing to our cruising altitude, we heard a loud boom and then saw a trail of smoke sprinting from the left engine. I quickly surveyed the flight attendants, and the look on their faces was one of deep concern if not outright panic. An eerie silence fell on the cabin. Seconds later, I heard the right engine race, and not long after, we were circling back to our airport of origin where minutes later we were on solid ground. Pheeew!

About a week later, I talked to some pilots who were part of our church and told them what happened. I asked them why the pilot decided to race the right engine. Without thinking, they said that had the pilot not done so, we may have flipped over in the air and plummeted to our deaths. “How long did the pilot have to make that decision?” I asked. “Oh, a few seconds.” But I shouldn’t worry, they continued. Their hours of training had ingrained into them this reflex reaction. Experience had saved the day.

When I board a plane, I don’t wonder about the pilot’s educational pedigree or how smart they are. I want to know how many hours they have flying under their belts. And when I’m on the operating table drifting off with my body entrusted into the hands of a doctor, I don’t want this surgery to be his first. I want him to be experienced.

Experience matters. All experiences shape us—good ones and bad ones. When Dad would get agitated with us because of some poor decision we made, he would often quip, “Experience isn’t always the best teacher, but it is the only school the fool will attend.” In context, he was saying that some people will learn only the hard way, through negative experiences. In the Bible, the book of Proverbs alludes to this when the writer says that “the way of transgressors is hard” (Prov. 13:15 KJV).

When we took our children on their first cruise, my youngest son asked me for money to buy an ice cream cone. I shook my head, telling him he didn’t need any money. “Wait a minute,” he said, “you mean to tell me I can just go and get another cone without giving them any money?” I nodded my head in the affirmative. You could see the wheels turning in his ten-year-old mind. “So you’re telling me, I can get as many ice cream cones as I want without having to pay any money?” Again, I nodded my head and then added, “But I don’t think it’s a good idea to eat too much ice cream, because you’ll get sick.” After his third ice cream cone in about thirty minutes, Korie was pleading with me to stop him.

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