From Eddie

My son Joe (6) asked me to paint with him. For all the ways Joe is unlike me, I’m thankful. But you won’t ever find me complaining about our shared love of music and art. We chose a Joey Pecoraro mix for our painting jam. We staged our palette with acrylics, a kimchi jar full of water, and a blank painting board. Joe was bopping his head to the music, paintbrush in hand, and he asked me, “What should we paint, daddy?”

I stared at the board for a beat. It was as blank as my thoughts.

“I don’t know, bud.”

I didn’t have an answer. I don’t know if it comes with age or I’m just tired of trying to figure things out, but lately, it feels like I don’t really have a good answer for anything.

We’ve been blessed with some great friends since we moved to Bogota. One of them is Mario, a former Hot Shot from Arizona. His wife is an investigative analyst for Homeland Security Investigations. Our kids get along. We drink beers, share meals, and laugh until we cry. Mario told me pretty early on that he’s an atheist and shared all the reasons why. I told him I’m a Christian and shared all the reasons why. Neither of us were convinced of each other’s worldview. And we really haven’t broached the subject again since. But we continue to get together, drink beers, share meals, and laugh until we cry.

Sharing the Gospel and discipleship is never far from my mind. It’s just that I rarely feel like I know what I’m doing in that regard. I just know that we really love Mario and his family. I can hardly imagine how God must feel about them and that gives me hope. It makes me feel okay to not have an answer.

After some thought, Joe and I finally agreed: “Let’s just start painting and see what happens.”