Love Your Prodigal Children

Here's some fantastic advice from Abraham Piper, son of pastor and theologian John Piper, on loving your prodigal children and showing them Jesus Christ.

When I was 19, I decided I’d be honest and stop saying I was a Christian. At first I pretended that my reasoning was high-minded and philosophical. But really I just wanted to drink gallons of cheap sangria and sleep around. Four years of this and I was strung out, stupefied and generally pretty low. Especially when I was sober or alone.

My parents—strong believers who raised their kids as well as any parents I’ve ever seen—were brokenhearted and baffled. I’m sure they wondered why the child they tried to raise right was such a ridiculous screw-up now. But God was in control.

One morning, before 8 o’clock, I went to the library to check my e-mail. I had a message from a girl I’d met a few weeks before. Her e-mail mentioned a verse in Romans. I went down to the Circle K and bought a 40-ounce can of Miller High Life. Then I went back to where I was staying, rolled a few cigarettes, cracked open my drink and started reading Romans. I wanted to read the verse from the e-mail, but I couldn’t remember what it was, so I started at the beginning of the book. By the time I got to chapter 10, the beer was gone, the ashtray needed emptying and I was a Christian.

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