By Brother Tom Bohman, C.PP.S.
It was the summer of 1958, and I was eight years old. My brother and I decided to build a fort of sticks and wood on the north part of our farm near Osgood, Ohio. It was one of those moments of freedom and we worked on the fort for about four hours. I tried to check in with my Mom but she was sleeping so I just went back to the fort. She became worried about her boys and called the neighbors about us. After that experience, I found better ways to keep Mom informed.
Today’s reading reminds us to check with God’s plans before we start building. Plan ahead, suggests the writer of Luke. Not bad advice as children begin another year at school. What are the costs of our dreams? Do we ask God to see what is possible, to implore God’s advice?
Paul calls himself an “old man” sort of a wisdom figure in his letter to Philemon. Paul had many dreams before becoming a “prisoner of Jesus Christ.” He found that he needed to allow Onesimus to lead his own life and to build his own tower rather than the narrow constraints that Paul wanted. Paul discerned that working together with Onesimus made him no longer a slave but a brother.
As we begin another school year, let us check with God before constructing our forts or our towers. God will not be asleep. If we think we are not being heard, keep asking. God will be our refuge so that our tower will have hopes of surviving for a while in the future. In God we trust, from the cross to everlasting glory.
Brother Tom Bohman, C.PP.S., is in ministry at St. James the Less Church in Columbus, Ohio.