The past four weeks or so have been a blur for me. It started with the birth of our 5th grandson, Colten, followed by the graduation of our youngest, Kylie, to the birth of Noah and concluded with the arrival of Caleb. Pretty amazing four weeks. Pretty stressful too.
But in spite of the stress, last minute things to get done, party to plan and then dealing with regular life God continued to demonstrate his Love for us. He had brought 3 new grandsons into our lives. Grandsons who, we pray, will continue the legacy of what our family believes and strives to live (not all days are good days). We now have 7 grandsons. How wonderful is that to potentially have in our family someone who could usher in the return of Christ becuase they shared what Christ had done for them.
Everyone of those young hearts will be exposed to the Bible, to Church (well that may not be the best idea sometimes), to seeing God work, to see lives changed and to see their world made better. These young parents have the responsibility to not only clean, feed and care for these young lives but they have a far greater responsibility. To teach and show them Christ.
I remember as a young dad feeling totally overwhelmed one day with the responsibility of being the spiritual head of the family. Knowing that God was holding me accountable for making sure I was, first a Godly example of a husband and a father, secondly that I would teach my children to love, honor, respect and obey God and His word and finally that if I didn't model it everyday then I would have to stand before God and explain why not. Yea no pressure. But then I recall hearing the Joseph song by Michael Card and I realized that the pressure I felt was nothing to the pressure that Joseph felt. Joseph KNEW that his son was the Son of God. He KNEW that God had chosen then to raise His Son. Pressure. Not thats pressure. Imagine knowing that your father-in-law had the power to create evertything you see, the power to calm raging storms, the power to heal the sick and the power to raise the dead. Wow.
I guess today I am feeling a need to help the young men on our family, Jeremy, Andy and Jeremy to take a second and begin to grasp a little bit more deeper the responsibility that God has given you. Each one of those young men will look to you to see how you treat your wife, how you respond to hard times, what you do when you are feeling down, how you take time to make sure they are special to you and not just playing ball or hunting or even playing Disc Golf. Those times are important for sure but it is the times you take them for ride and share what God is doing and they get to pray with their dad. Those are the times of shaping who they will be.
You all know that I my dad left me when I was really young. So it was just me and my two brothers. You also know that I didn't have the best environment to grow up in. But you didn't know about the abuse I took, about having a gun pointed at me by my step-father, and other stuff I don't want to go into. But then a man came into my life, showed me what it meant to be a Christian and my life changed.
As dads we can have one of two impacts on your sons / daughters. They can see a compassionate caring husband who does dishes when he needs to, who helps around the house, who sets aside time for his wife to have some quiet time, who while doing all those things are demonstrating Christ. Or you can be self-absored and living a life that centers on your desires.
I wasn't perfect or probably not very good at a lot of things. There are certainly areas of my life that could be a whole lot better and God is helping me to improve. But I do know this. That God blessed me with a wife that loves God and me. Six amazing children who know God. And inspite of my many imperfections God has seen fit to bless us.
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