God's story, your life.

Unfolding short stories.

What's the reason you're returning this?

That question froze me in my tracks because there was the answer and then there was the answer behind the answer.

See, when you're a parent, the one thing you want your kids to have as friends, right?

You want them to have friends.

You want them to have a normal childhood.

And that was really hard for me because I didn't have a normal childhood, and I didn't have a lot of friends.

And so I have this young teenage son.

He's smart and he's bright and he's athletic and he's funny,

all the things I wasn't at that age. And he had a hard time making friends. I'm like, what is the

problem? And he kind of just wanted to stay at home and play video games. And so one day he comes

to me and says, dad, can I get a bike so I can go to the park to see my friends?

I'm like, let's go. I mean, let's get in the call. Let's do this. And so, you know, I'm still

kind of a value guy. So we drive past the nice bike shop and we go to Target. And I pick out a really

cool looking bike for Target. And we get home, he goes to the park right away and then about an hour later he comes back

he's he's coming back on the driveway and he's not on the bike he's walking next to it and I go what's

wrong buddy he goes dad the bike's not working that's kind of funny we just bought this bike

what's wrong with it he goes it's just it's not working anymore and And I take a look at the frame, and the frame is broken.

And I go, what happened?

I'm pretty sure we bought a bike that was functional when we left Target.

And he opens up and says, dad, there were some kids at the park.

...