Several weeks went by, and one afternoon, Jeremiah was at the kitchen table reading his Bible. I came in after work to see him intently focused. “Que estas leyendo? Todavia insistes en leer lo que es contrario a nuestra Fe? (What are you reading? You still insist on reading what is contrary to our faith?)”
Jeremiah looked up at me with tears in his eyes. “I read what my soul demands.”
“En mi casa no vas a leer esto! (In my house, you are not going to read this!)” I grabbed the Bible from his hands and stormed off to my room.
I had invited Tio to dinner that night. And as I was in my room trying to calm down, the doorbell rang. Jeremiah answered the door with tears in his eyes.
He had told Tio what had happened during the Bible study a few days after. So now he filled him in on this afternoon’s events. “Tus lagrimas Dios las entiende; no esperes que tu Padre abandone años de estudio y tradicion. Se es de Dios lo que haces sera revelado a su tiempo. Conozco tu batalla interna hijo. Mesia o no tu Corazon te dira lo que Dios nesesita reverlarte (Your tears God understands; don’t expect your father to abandon years of study and tradition. If it’s of God what you are doing, it shall be revealed at its time. I understand your internal battle. Messiah or not, your heart will tell you what God needs to reveal.)”
All Jeremiah could say was, “Tio…” before the tears fell even harder. After several minutes, he said, “Me han robado a mi Mesias! (They have robbed me of my Messiah 
!)” He was so distraught and ran into his room.
Several days later, we still had not talked since I had taken his Bible and stormed off. Jeremiah stayed in his room when he was home. Tio came by to check on the situation. He went to Jeremiah’s room to check on him. After he watched for a moment, he noticed Jeremiah sitting by the window with tears streaming down his face. He quietly knocked and walked over to him. “God sees your tears. He knows why.”
“Uncle, it hurts so bad. I’m tired of this. I’m so blessed to be part of this family, but I know that I was adopted. Lately, I feel like I’m an outsider in my own house, all because I believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Why is this so hard?”
Tio wrapped his arms around him to try to offer some comfort. “I know, I know.” There was nothing that Tio could say. This was something that God was going to have to help Jeremiah with. All he could do was to be there and be a shoulder for him to cry on.