Compilation Sunday: that special time of week when picture and prose become as one.It’s the same thought process that every dad of daughters goes through multiple times in their lives. I’m no different. I wonder what kind of men my daughters will marry and what kind of a motley crew I’ll inherit as sons-in-law. When I think about these boys soon to be men, who could be as near as down the street or as far away as the other side of the world, if not the womb, right now, I have basically three stipulations for them.
First, they need to be Godly men. I want Jacie and Kenna and Avery to find and marry men who are passionately lovers of Christ. I want sons-in-law who are on fire for the Lord, who have no greater purpose or calling in love then to follow where the Spirit leads. I can only imagine the joy I’ll know in seeing these soul mates of my daughters devoted to the Lord.
Second, they need to love my daughters more than they love themselves. And as I know firsthand the basic self-centeredness and selfishness of the Human Male, this is no small task in itself. Nevertheless, I desire for them to be enraptured by the exquisite loveliness of my little princesses and to never be lacking in their desire to treasure and cherish them. I look forward to hearing bits and pieces of the special things they do to make my girls feel special, even decades after their wedding day.
Third, and this may seem like a minor thing compared to the first two, I want one to be a mechanic. I want to be able to call him up and say, “Son, I’ve been having a problem with my car.” And seeing as how he’ll honor and respect me as his father-in-law, he won’t make me feel inadequate and more stupid than dirt when I have no idea how to explain the grinding or whistling or “chunk-chunk-chunk” sound it’s been making. He’ll simply say, “Sure, Dad, I’ll take a look at it first thing in the morning.” And then he’ll pick it up and run some diagnostics, figure out exactly the problem, fix it the right way and return it, free of charge.
One reading this column with more extensive knowledge of Team Hiemstra might be tempted to say that I not only have three daughters, but also a son, who could grow up to be an intelligent mechanic or fix-it man in his own right. But, seeing as how Carter will inherit the same basic body of knowledge regarding all things mechanical that I inherited from my dad, certain careers paths might be a little hard to traverse for him. I’m not extremely gifted in this area. I have a hard enough time driving a car, let alone trying to figure out what’s wrong with it.
My point in all of this, referenced by my beloved wife’s photo of the Jiffy Lube, is that car problems suck. Cars are a necessary evil in this world, fraught with problems and difficulties designed to make life harder than it should be. Having car problems sure make life in China look attractive where bikes would be the preferred form of transportation. Of course, with strict governmental population requirements in China, moving there would mean deciding which two children to part with, which would definitely be difficult to choose.
Yes, I know that our car problems will be solved, we’ll have less money to have to worry about in our bank account and life will move on. I just wish that the process were easier, like when my son-in-law changes the rotors on my brakes, and I have no idea what that means, but I don’t care because if I have any more problems, I’ll just call him back up.
By the way, I want one son-in-law to be a mechanic. The other two I’m not so picky about, but since I’m dreaming here, let’s have one be the General Manager of the Raiders and the other be the Course Superintendent at Pebble Beach. Sitting in a luxury box in Oakland or walking the plush fairways of the Monterey peninsula would sure assuage any lingering pain from the car problems I’m having now.
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