"LORD, HAVE MERCY ON MY SON"! ( Matthew 17:15)

ONCE A PARENT, ALWAYS A PARENT.

A father's task, no less than a mother's, is the toughest job in the world because it never ends. The chalenges are daily, weekly, monthley, year after year. Being a parent is a full-time job with no reprieve, no time off even for illness and recuperation. Children, we soon discover, are here to stay for at least a score of years. They don't appear like robins in the spring, then fly away at summer's end; or if, as it sometimes seems, they so come and go during high school and colege years, their absence in no way lessens our burden of responsibility. In fact, as our children get older, instead of relaxing, our task seeminglly intensifies.

The point is clear: Once a parent, always a parent. Fathers and mothers alike, we don't stop caring just because we're no longer the main providers of shelter, food and the comforts of home. It's not merely our bounden duty, as bilogical parents of these children; it's also our joyful pleasure to care for them, even after they no longer seem to need us. (Bruce L.).

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