The Little Chap Who Follows Me

I'm currently re-reading Dr. John C. Maxwell's book Developing the Leader Within You. In the first chapter, John talks about how we all have some measure of influence (good or bad) over others. Concerning fatherhood, he notes a poem called The Little Chap Who Follows Me.

A careful man I ought to be,
A little fellow follows me,
I do not dare to go astray
For fear he'll go the selfsame way.

I cannot once escape his eyes,
Whate'er he sees me do, he tries;
Like me, he says, he's going to be,
The little chap who follows me.

He thinks that I am good and fine,
Believes in every word of mine
The base in me he must not see,
The little chap who follows me.

I must remember as I go,
Through summer's fun and winter's snow,
In building for the years to be
The little chap who follows me!

The evidence of this poem came to life with my older son, Ian, last week and this morning. I love to drink San Pellegrino sparkling mineral water. I love it so much that we stock it by the case in our refrigerator. So last week, I come home and Lisa is playing in the driveway with the boys. Everyone's happy to see each other and Ian very politely offers to get a drink for me and asks "Do you want regular water or San Pellegrino." Naturally, I go for the effervescent beverage in the cool green bottle from Terme, Italy. A moment later, my "little chap" returns with 2 bottles and we sit on the concrete swigging our refreshments and talking about our day like adults :)

This morning, Ian and Trevor both woke up early (practice for school) and wanted to go with me on my morning walk. On the way back home, we strolled by a creek that runs alongside of our neighborhood. It's lined with towering trees - the kind you'd expect to see when you think of the trees planted by streams of water in Psalm 1. Trevor asks why the trees were so tall and I told him about the water giving constant nourishment. Now, because it was so early and not being a "morning person", Ian scolded me and said, "Everyone knows that, Dad. I don't know why you even had to say that!" I explained to him that not everyone knows everything and that's why we read books and go to school so we can learn new things. I further told him that when I read a book, I always learn new things. Still not particularly happy with my answer, Ian says "Oh, Yeah?, But you only read the the BIBLE!!"

Praise God! :) :)