Thanks Dad!

As a child, my father was always difficult for me to figure out. I knew that he got up for work very early in the morning, while it was still dark, and he arrived back home, many times after we got home from school. He would always come in and sit in His chair before dinner and would almost always fall asleep.  I always used to try to figure out what he was doing while he was at work. I knew he was a bread man, but that didn’t mean anything to me. My dad ran a bread route for Weber’s Bread during most of my childhood. I learned later that he worked long hours, for not a whole lot of money. My dad rarely missed a day of work, even when he was sick; he almost always went to work anyway. There was a job to be done and he was going to do it. Even after a long day of work, dad almost always showed up for our ballgames. He was always a great example to us boys of what hard work and dedication was all about. My dad continues to be a hard worker even into his 70s.

I finally understood some of what my dad when through when I first graduated from seminary. While searching for a job in the ministry, I took a job as a milk man. Being a milk man is similar to being a bread man. You get up before the sun and sometimes come home in the afternoon. I was single and unmarried, so that made it a little easier, but it was a tough job, for not a lot of money. I could have never done that job without the example of my dad. In the three and a half years I worked for the dairy, I had perfect attendance. I may be a pastor, but I spent a number of years working in secular jobs. I know that it can be difficult to work long hours and then come home and be a dad.

My dad wasn’t perfect and neither am I. Your dad wasn’t perfect and neither are you. God doesn’t call us to be perfect dads, He simply call us to be like Jesus. The best dads are always the ones who make Jesus first in their lives.

If you are a dad, I want you to consider what a great privilege it is to have the opportunity to set a godly example for your children. We live in a world where the culture is trying to squeeze dads out of the family, but families need to have dads. You will never be the dad God has called you to be, if you are not committed to being the man God has called you to be. God also gives us this special task:

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (The Message): “Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night.”

I am thankful my dad taught me about hard word, however, I am more thankful that he took me to church to hear the life-changing message of the Gospel of Christ. You can teach your kids to shoot, fish, hunt, and fix cars, but the most important thing you will ever teach your children about is the Good News of Jesus Christ. I hope and pray dads will be committed to this task. Thanks Dad!

Living Life to the Full,

Scott