That is a lame excuse from your son.

Tell him this story.

The Parable of the Man Stuck on a Roof

It so happened that in a far-away land, a flood arose and slowly crept up the highlands, causing people to flee in panic to the highlands, or to their roofs.

A man likewise, trying to escape the flood ran up to his roof.

He started praying that God would send help from heaven, intervene in his situation, and rescue him from the rising levels of the flood.

“God! Save me!” he cried in desperation. “This is an isolated part of the country side, and I am far away from my neighbours! Let your hands come down from heaven to rescue me from the onslaught of these relentless waters!”

At first nothing happened, but the man continued to pray aloud. He was about to give up hope that he was to receive a visible sign of God’s intervention, when a woman in a kayak rowed by from the distance. “Hey mate, are you alright over there? I thought I saw something glimmering in the distance and I thought I might swing by in case someone needed help,” she said.

The man looked at the kayaker and said, “Don’t worry about me. You see God is going to send help from heaven really soon. Please go on your way.”

“Alright then. I don’t see anyone else for miles, and I do have a space in my kayak. You sure you do not want to hop on?”

“No,” replied the man. “God is going to send help from heaven real soon.”

So the lady in kayak rowed away.

The flood waters continued to rise, and the man on the roof, continued his fervent prayer.

In good time, a fishing vessel sailed up, but again, the man refused to get on board the boat, saying that he was waiting for God to act. Thus the fishing boat went by and on its business.

By this time, the man had spent many hours on his roof and the flood waters had already risen to his knees. He prayed aloud and with many tears, “Lord God, I know that I am a sinner, save me from the flood for I am about to drown. Why are you not doing anything?”

When the flood waters had risen to his chest, a cruise ship came sailing by. “We saw the glint of the reflection hitting your spectacles and came to investigate. We have plenty of space. Hop on!” said the Captain of the cruise ship.

One would have thought that anyone with some semblance of sense would have grabbed at the opportunity and climb up the vessel up to safety, but not our stoic friend over here. Again, he waved the Captain away. “Look here. No offence but God is going to act anytime now.” So the Captain steered his ship away.

The waters continued to rise and by this time with a great rapidity. So the man could not even feel the roof beneath his feet. He paddled in the waters for several more hours, before finally succumbing to exhaustion, and drowning beneath the waves.

When he met God, he started complaining and accusing God of not helping him. “Look God, I was so faithful and I waited for you. Why did you abandoned me?”

And God said, “You know, I sent three vessels of my help to rescue you – each bigger than the other, in the case that you might have missed the first, but you refused to be helped by them.”