The Secret Drumbeat Few Ever Find

The Secret Drumbeat Few Ever Find
by Jason Cruise

Our youngest son, Tucker, has, on many levels, pushed us further down the road of faith in all things related to parenting. Our first son, Cole, actually set me and Michelle up for parental failure by being so incredibly "good." Cole was, from day one, compliant, gentle, reliable, and just about as easy to raise as it ever gets in terms of parenting. Tucker ... well, he simply isn't any of that. Yet.

Tucker is incredibly funny, but compliant he is not. Since the day of birth, it was blatantly obvious that at the top of Tucker's core value system was total and absolute defiance of authority. Gentle, yes, sometimes. Reliable, very much so, in terms that you can absolutely count on him ... to destroy just about anything you find valuable. Tucker has redefined Man-to-Man defense for me, as in you'd better shadow him at every moment if you don't want him to score. I'll give him this: he is a winner. He will find a way to score, and the prize will always be at the peril of your wallet. Bookies in Vegas are laying down odds now that he will surpass more spankings by the age of three than Cole has on record at the age of seven.

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In all fairness to Tuck, he's a ton of fun.

When he's not drawing a line in the sand for control of whatever is important to him at the moment.

One of the things that Tucker has taught me is that there's always a party going on, you just gotta have the desire to find it.

Even before he could walk, you'd notice Tucker, at times, bobbing his head. Like he was at some rock concert in the arena of his head. Yet, if you listened closely, you'd always hear a beat somewhere in the background. It never failed, and still doesn't to this day. We can be in the grocery store, walking through a parking lot, in a noise-filled environment of any sort, and out of nowhere, Tuck will stop in his tracks and start moving to a groove. Sure enough, listen closely, and you'll hear music playing somewhere in the distance. Sometimes soft, sometimes loud, but it's always there.

I am fully convinced that Tucker is going to teach me a lot about God. Especially about the joy of a Heavenly Father who yearns for His children to enjoy the journey set before them. That journey is one where His song is always playing, if you have "eyes to see and ears to hear."

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