Emphasis Preaching Journal

A funeral director had inherited the business from his father and grandfather. He had grown up with the understanding that someday, he would have a child who would take over the family business. He married, had a son, and waited for the day when the son would graduate from high school and express an interest in mortuary science. Oven the years, he had taken time to show the son many of the interesting elements of the business. With each passing year, anticipation grew for the time when father and son would work side by side as partners in a satisfying business.

Unfortunately, that day never came. Instead, upon graduation, the boy announced he really had no interest in the family business. He felt it just did not allow for enough pensonal time, like a job somewhere else might offer. Naturally, he enjoyed the prospects of inheriting a tidy sum of money upon the sale of the business, either on the death of his father, on his retirement. But, the thought of all that responsibility that goes with owning a business was just too much for him.

For the father, the words "heir" and "son" had always included the notion of continuing the family business. In his words, "My son wants the blessings of his sonship without the accompanying obligations and responsibilities."
-- Thompson