Coming Home

Her name is Louise. She's married and has four boys. She's been surrounded by five testerone driven boys who became men her whole life. Pink does not exist in her house. No dress up dresses. Easy bake ovens never darkened the door. All four boys are handsome, winsome, intelligent, self-starters, funny and laughter fills her home as she smiles just at the thought of each of them. She is the quintessential proud Italian mom who gets upset if you don't eat all of her pasta and drink her red wine.

Louise loves to laugh! She has that contagious laugh that makes you laugh just because she's laughing. Louise is not too much of a computer whiz. Or at least she wasn't when she met Julie, my wife.

Julie was the computer specialist at a well known consulting firm in Milwaukee and the phone rang often from Louise who would beg Julie, "Could you just come up here and take a quick look at my computer. I don't think it will take long." It usually didn't. But in these almost daily treks Julie and Louise became fast friends. Julie became like a daughter to Louise, with Julie always giving Louise the juicy details of her life that boys never seem to do.

Louise and her five grown men. What a sight. What love. What joy. What a family!

And then one day twelve years ago the second to the youngest son joined a cult and moved away. Letters were written disavowing his love and his membership in the family. He was gone... just like that.

I don't mean to stereotype but this devout Roman Catholic Italian family loving mom was not going to be deterred in her pursuit to get her son back. After him she went and she came home empty handed and broken hearted. Her prayers for a reunion were answered with silence for twelve years.

She sought my counsel. With two daughters of my own who have not talked to me since 1998, I understood her pain, frustration and heartache firsthand. I would watch Julie and Louise cry together and it made me cry with them. "Pray and hope" became her mantra.  Every time we talked with Louise or saw her in person we would see the shake of the head indicating, "No word...but pray and hope!"

Oh sure, laughter still filled her home but muted just a bit. Oh sure the boys would come over for dinner with their families but there was always that empty seat...

We moved to Dubuque, Iowa at the end of March in 2012 and Louise, living just 3 hours away was our first house guest.  She hadn't been in our home for 24 hours before her husband called from Milwaukee to say that their estranged son had called, "out of the blue! "

You know us men... Louise was yearning for every detail and her husband had about 10 words to say about the conversation. We all sat on the back patio and cried. We didn't know what it meant but her mantra remained steady and true... "Pray and hope."

Christmas day 2012 was the greatest homecoming in  Louise's life.
On the day that we celebrate the son of God coming into our world, Louise celebrated her son coming home along with his wife and two children.

The prodigal son came home! The brothers rejoiced! Mom and Dad were ecstatic. And as the father in Jesus' parable said, "Let us eat and celebrate! For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.  And they began to celebrate" so too did Louise and her family, together again. Empty seat filled to overflowing! Merry Christmas!

Sunday rolled around and the whole family. I mean the whole family went to church. And do you know what Father Tim preached on?
Unconditional love and forgiveness... what a day!

After church the whole family went out to breakfast. Right after the food came one of the other sons stood up and offered a toast... "to Louise, to mom for her unconditional love!"

Here's to you Louise! I raise my glass to you this day! It's going to be a great year 2013!

And to you O God, I raise my full glass, my weak voice, my wounded heart and my hopeful eyes and I say, "Here's to you, the Master of bringing us home..."

"I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29. 11)

Pray and hope, pray and hope... I will Louise. I will...

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh Often and Fear Not!
David!