Weekend Dig

Tommy and his son Kyle went for a weekend dig. It was a university-sponsored event and Kyle found a Chinese coin dating to the late 19th century. The head of the operation said that he could keep the find since they had over a thousand of them from the site. Kyle was very proud of himself.

It seemed to spark an interest in archeology for him as he jabbered all the way home about this method of digging verses that method of digging. To his Dad, there was only one way of digging, so he was actually learning something here. Later that night Kyle asked if his father had a chain so that he might put his coin around his neck. Tommy gave him the chain from his old military dog tags.

The following day Tommy had to take Kyle home to his mother.

Four days later when Tommy picked Kyle up, he noticed Kyle wasn’t wearing his coin on his neck. He waited until Kyle was in the truck and they were out of the driveway before asking where it was. Kyle told his dad that his mother didn’t want him wearing it any more because it didn’t represent Jesus. Tommy instantly felt angry, but he managed to keep my mouth shut for the sake of his son.

Later that evening, Kyle and his dad sat down and had a little discussion. He wanted to know if wearing the coin around his neck was the same as ‘idol worshipping?’ Tommy told him that it was not. He explained that idol worshipping was when a person starts ‘putting’ something before Jesus, like money, work, or even worry.

This is when Tommy’s son’s understanding and wisdom knocked his socks off. He looked his dad and asked, “Then a golden cross full of diamonds could be an idol even though it represents Jesus, right?” Dad had to sit and think about that for a moment. Finally he answered, “Yes.” Then Kyle reminded his father, “After all the original cross was made by man.”