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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 5, NUMBER 44, NOVEMBER 6, 2005 “PWEESE DADDY, I WANT TO PRAY!”
She appeared to be three maybe four years old. Blonde “Shirley Temple-like” curls hung around her rosy cheeks. Her sweet blue eyes twinkled with the innocence and exuberance of youth. All of her family had assembled and heaping plates of Chinese food were in front of them. With great excitement the precious little girl looked at her father, who was stuffing his face with the urgency of a condemned man eating his last meal, and announced, “Pweese, Daddy, I want to pray.” Thoughtlessly, he continued to stuff egg rolls in his mouth with seemingly no awareness of his daughter’s plea. Once again, she begged, “Pweese, Daddy, I want to pray! Won’t you bow, Daddy? We need to pray!” With her head bowed and her eyes closed, I heard this prayer from the heart of an innocent child: “Thank you God for this day. Thank you for our food. Thank you for Mommy and Daddy. Help Daddy learn to pray. Amen!” Her father never stopped eating, never bowed his head and never acknowledged the tender petition of his daughter. How could he appear to be so cold and callused while his daughter prayed? How could any father deny his daughter’s plea to pray? I am sure there is more to the story than I will ever know, but I heard enough to burn with indignation toward the father and feel compassion for the innocence so callously rejected. Fathers, we have the God-given responsibility to take the spiritual lead in our family. The wise man of Proverbs repeatedly admonished sons to listen to the instruction of their fathers (Prov. 1:8; 4:1). This demanded that fathers be actively involved in the spiritual training of their children. In the New Testament, fathers are commanded “not to provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). God has placed this awesome responsibility squarely on the shoulders of fathers. Fathers are to be spiritual trainers. As Dick Blackford wrote in For Husbands Only, “We cannot delegate, hesitate, procrastinate, and makes excuses, but God will finally hold us responsible. We must meet the challenge. There are some things in life that if we do not do them when we have the opportunity, then the opportunity will be gone forever. Child-rearing cannot be done at our convenience.” We cannot leave our children alone to feed, protect, and educate themselves physically. To an even greater degree, fathers, we cannot abandon our children expecting them to spiritually train themselves. We cannot afford to leave their spiritual education to a God-less world or a secular school system. If your children are going to learn to pray, you must teach them – teaching them in word and by example. Children need to hear their fathers praying often and passionately. They need to learn from their father’s heart and lips to express thanksgiving and praise in prayer, to petition God for “daily bread,” to share daily concerns and cares with the Heavenly Father, and do it with respect and intimacy. Fathers, do your children hear you pray? Do they hear you pray often? Do they hear you pray with emotion and meaning? “Pweese, Daddy, I want to pray.” Fathers, will you take the time to teach them to pray? John Smith “I Just Wasn’t Thinking!”It was late in the fourth quarter and after an absolutely horrendous game, Brett Farve was leading the Green Bay Packers on the potential tying, or game-winning drive. The opponents were our beleaguered, bedraggled, yet Oh so beloved, Bengals. As Farve received the snap and dropped back to pass, the official blew the play dead. Why? Because a “fan” had made it to the field and was running toward the quarterback. As Farve relaxed, the “fan” snatched the ball from his hand and took off. He was eventually tackled by security and hauled off. Later, when his girlfriend came to pick him up from jail, it was reported that she asked him, “What were you thinking?” His response was, “I just wasn’t thinking!” Allow me to say a hearty AMEN to that. However, his “lack of thinking” didn’t begin when he slung his leg over the wall surrounding the field, hopped down on that cart that had been parked beneath him, and darted onto the field. His lack of thinking started way back when he decided he was going to consume alcoholic beverages. More and more I am hearing Christians, and unfortunately many of them are young, saying that the occasional alcoholic beverage is O.K. Satan must be rejoicing at the inroads he continues to make. For the one who is willing to accept what the Word of God says, 1 Peter 4:3-4 should lay the matter to rest. Peter wrote, “For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you.” For the one who is willing to accept it, that verse covers all levels of drinking from the falling down drunk to the single drink in the privacy of the home. Every bit of it is just plain worldly and those who argue in support of the consumption of any amount of alcoholic beverages are “Just Not Thinking!”
Greg Litmer
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