He Devises Ways

When David heard that his son Amnon had violated his daughter Tamar, "he was furious," and he did nothing. Two years later Absalom had his brother killed and fled. David mourned for his son every day, but when Absalom finally came home, the king would not see his face. The breach grew into a revolt. David climbed the Mount of Olives barefoot and weeping, let a man curse him along the road, and commanded his generals, "Treat the young man Absalom gently for my sake." In the chamber over the gate at Mahanaim, he cried, "O my son Absalom!"

He Devises Ways is a 30-day devotional through the life of David for mothers and fathers whose grown children have stopped speaking to them, and for the spouses, friends, and churches who stand with them. Along the way you'll follow Renée, a 58-year-old dental hygienist in the Texas Hill Country whose daughter Lucy sent one email in June, no contact and three reasons, one of them an uncle and a summer night when Lucy was fifteen, and Teo, a retired pecan grower whose own son did not speak to him for eleven years. Their year runs from a porch on Wednesday mornings through a hard look at the past, a report to the state, a grandchild's birth, a letter with no excuses, and a first, careful conversation, and their talks lead into each day's Scripture, reflection, and practice.