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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 7, NUMBER 24, JUNE 17, 2007 FATHER’S DAY This is the day of the year that has been set aside as a special day to focus upon fathers. When I think back upon my dad, who has been gone for many years now, I remember several characteristics more than specific events. I remember a man of responsibility, a man who got up early in the morning, day after day and year after year, to go to a job that he did not particularly like because he had a family to provide for and that was what he was supposed to do. I remember a man of integrity. If dad said he was going to do something, he did it. I remember a man devoid of prejudice who had friends of different races and beliefs, and when I was a very young boy, that was not always as easy thing to do. I remember a man with a strong sense of what was right and what was wrong, a patriot who served his country in World War II with 36 straight months in the South Pacific. I don’t know that he was ever more proud of me than on the day I left to serve the country in the Coast Guard. I also remember a man of gentleness, love and kindness toward my mother. In all the years I was at home I never saw or heard my dad treat my mother in an unkind manner. I am not sure that I ever heard my dad raise his voice to her, and he taught me never to touch a woman in anger. Dad taught me what it meant to be a man. I miss him every single day and yet I know he lives on in the things I do. Over the years my own children have given me different things for Father’s Day. One was a plaque that said, “Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad.” Another was a little decorative pillow on which is stitched, “DAD – Strong shoulders, Saturday coach, big hugs, fixes broken toys and hearts, counselor of wisdom.” I agree. Any one can be a father from a biological standpoint as evidenced by the incredibly large number of absentee dads. We often hear of sports figures and entertainers with numerous children by numerous women. Shame on them – shame on every one of them. It doesn’t make a person a man because he has fathered a child – and it certainly doesn’t make him a “dad.” Next to being a Christian, I don’t believe that there is a more serious responsibility given to a man in God’s Word than that of being a father. A father has the responsibility to provide for the needs of his family. In 1 Timothy 5:8 Paul wrote, “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” The word “provide” in this passage means, “to perceive before, think of beforehand, foresee, to take thought for, care for.” While I believe that the primary emphasis of this verse is on material things such as food, clothing, shelter and so on, it is a mistake to think that that is all a father is responsible for. Far too many fathers think that their responsibility toward their children begins and ends with providing the physical needs of each child. If they go to work and bring home the paycheck, that’s enough. Now, while physical things are very important, they are not the most important; at least, not as far as the child is concerned. I used to coach girls’ high school basketball at a rather exclusive school. Many of those girls drove automobiles that probably cost well over half of what I made in a year. Some of them lived in houses that would have been large enough to play our games in. That is probably an exaggeration, but I think you get the point. Yet with all of their material possessions, what I found those girls to want most was their mom, and particularly their dad, to be in the stands watching them play. So many of their fathers were gone so much of the time making a living that they were forgetting to make a life. In Ephesians 6:4 Paul wrote, “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Both mothers and fathers have vital roles to fulfill in the education and discipline of their children. However, fathers must not abdicate their roles as the spiritual leaders of their families. The father has the responsibility, given by God, to nurture the child. Here the primary emphasis is upon the spiritual needs of that child. How is a child going to grow to be most happy and fulfilled? By being faithful and loyal to the Lord throughout his or her life, that is how. Part of the means by which that will be accomplished is by admonition, or more literally, “putting in mind of right.” As fathers, we much teach our children what is right as well as what is wrong. Colly Caldwell, in his Commentary on Ephesians, stated it this way on page 295, “The ultimate concern of parents (fathers, g.l.) who love the Lord is the loyalty of their children to Christ. We can often force them by sheer strength or by the power of what we provide while they are very young. Will our children be good, however, when they are grown? Only by the most careful training, prayer, instruction, admonition, chastening, and loving will we do all we can to insure that (Proverbs 22:6). May God bless us all, parents and children, to that end.” Many of the problems that plague our society today can be traced to far too many fathers, but nowhere near enough “dads.” It is time for all men to assume their God-given responsibilities when they make the choice to father a child. For those who have, Happy Father’s Day.
Greg Litmer
THE MACHINE I told my son, It’s a machine, don’t worry, it won’t hit you, Stand in there like a man.
The machine wound up and threw the ball, It hit him in the hand.
The first of many times I’ve had to say, “I’m sorry.”
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