Hi, I'm home.
SITS AT DESK.
Oh, this computer!
TYPES ON COMPUTER KEYBOARD. PUSHES BUTTON. Print. STANDS. GOES OVER TO PRETEND PRINTER.
TAPS FOOT. LOOKS FOR PRINTER COPY.
Where is it?
TURNS HEAD SHARPLY.
Thank you, Jean.
PROUD, CHEST OUT.
Yes, I'm excited about my promotion.
SMILES PROUDLY. LISTENS. SHAKES HEAD YES.
You like my new red sports car?
LISTENS. No, sorry, I can't go to the concert. I've got to work. Ann goes to college in the
fall. Big bucks!
LOOKS AT WATCH.
Thanks. By.
SMILES. LOOKS AT PRETEND
PRINTER.
Finally.
PICKS UP PRINTOUT.
SITS DOWN AT COMPUTER DESK. LAYS DOWN PRINTER COPY. HEAD TURNS, AS PRETEND SPOUSE ENTERS.
Hi honey! I know you want to go to the concert. Go yourself. Time? I don't have time!
I'm working
POINTS AT SPOUSE
for you and our family. I've got to finish my work. I want
a larger portfolio, buy a bigger house.
LISTENS. BENDS OVER IN PAIN, HOLDS HAND ON HEART.
Oh!
SUFFERS PAIN. HOLDS HAND OUT TO KEEP SPOUSE AWAY.
No, I'm fine.
PAUSE.
It's not my heart--just gas pain.
SITS UP STRAIGHTEN.
I love you too.
We'll have time together later. I'll watch Paul.
BLOWS KISS.
TURNS, TYPES ON COMPUTER KEYBOARD FOR A FEW SECONDS. HEAD TURNS SHARPLY.
You need help with
what? Later.
LOOKS AT COMPUTER SCREEN.
Give me a few minutes.
TURNS SHARPLY,
MAD.
Don't pull on my clothes.
FRUSTRATED.
All right, Paul. What do you want?
LOOKS AND LISTENS.
Fine. I'm supposed to teach you your verse!
MAD.
What's
your memory verse?
LISTENS.
You gave it to me last night!
LOOKS ON DESK.
Here it is!
PICKS UP PAPER WITH BIBLE VERSE ON; LOOKS AT CHILD.
OK, say the verse.
IMPATIENT.
Don't you know it, Paul? I'll read your verse. Try to understand the
meaning.
READS BIBLE VERSE.
James 4:14-17. "You do not know what will happen tomorrow.
For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Instead you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. But now you boast in
your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it,
to him it is sin."
LOOKS AT PAUL.
Do you know any of this?
LISTENS.
Your labor is not in vain in
the Lord? That's not in this verse!
LISTENS.
Oh, turn the paper over. I knew that.
TURNS PAPER OVER, READS.
I Cor. 15:58, "Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the
work of the Lord; because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
LOOKS AT PAUL.
What does it mean? Well, it means life is short like a mist. The only thing that truly matters
and lasts is what you do for God. Haven't I always told you that?
TURNS HEAD, DAY DREAMS.
FINGER ON CHIN.
Hmm.
THINKING.
Haven't I always told you that?
TURNS
HEAD. KIND.
Paul, memorize the verses, then come back and I'll help you, later.
PAUSE.
I've got to work. I'm doing it for you. Go study.
RESTS, SITS BACK IN CHAIR. HAND ON
CHIN, THINKING.
Haven't I always told you that?
PAUSE.
STANDS, PACES. HAND ON CHIN. LOOKS UP TO HEAVEN.
Why? Why do you keep putting those Bible
verses into my mind? "I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me." I know.
I memorized Your 10 Commandments.
LOOKS UP.
"Children are a gift of the Lord." Yes,
I know that.
"Husbands, love your wife as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her."
MEDITATES.
Hmmm, gave Himself........gave Himself.
BENDS OVER IN PAIN, HOLDS HAND ON HEART. SITS DOWN.
Oh!
HOLDS NECK. REACTS TO SEVERE
PAIN. RECOVERS. LOOKS UP.
Trying to tell me something, God ?
SOMBER. THINKS.
When it's our time, we don't think about promotion, or position.
PACES.
I can't take
my possession to the grave.
LOOKS UP.
When I stand before You, You're not going to
ask me what position or degrees I have.
PAUSE. HAND ON CHIN. LIGHT BULB GOES ON INSIDE HEAD.
You're going to ask me what I did with my life.
SIGH. PACES. THINKS.
Father,
I've been a fool. I am promoted; I'm a child of the King. I am rich; my family and friends love me,
even when I don't care about them.
HOLDS HAND ON HEAD. THINKS.
I need to love You
Lord, and my family--not my false gods of work, money, and position.
PAUSE. HAND OVER HEART.
This vapor's getting burnt out, isn't it, Lord?
LOOKS STRAIGHT AHEAD. CALLS OUT.
Paul. Come here.
SMILES. HOLDS HANDS OUT.
Paul, teach me how to love life, like you do. I want your passion for living.
NODS HEAD YES.
I need to change my commitment to you, my family, and God. I want
HOLDS HAND OUT TO
HOME
us to use all these things, God has given us, to praise Him and to be a blessing. I can
see now what true riches are.
HOLDS ARMS OUT AND PRETENDS TO EMBRACE AND HUG PAUL. SMILES.
LOOKS UP.
Thank you, Father. I'll use Your example, to be a good parent.
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