Tag: Dad

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Oh the persistence of a well loved child!

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” Luke‬ ‭11:11-13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

No one knows persistence like a loved child! Warning: Grandchild story. Our three granddaughters are three and under. Once our grands get something they want in their heads, there is no shaking them off topic. If I happen to mention a special treat for them, the oldest is immediately working her charm. It’s starts with the sweetest of asks, “Papa, do you remember the treat you promised?” “Yes, but let’s wait until after dinner,” I say. Scattered throughout dinner are regular checkins both verbal and non-verbal. A increasingly more direct message, “Papa, remember.” Even though the oldest does the heavy lifting to remind, to maintain this gentle, but constant pressure of THE ASK, it is clear that she is asking for all three of them. And somehow our twenty-two month and our seventeen month old have their brilliant listening skills honed well before their verbal acumen. Now it’s all three staring me down. They remember, they ask and ask again.

It’s not only appropriate because it was promised, it’s adorable because they know that I will come through with the request. How could I not? And the fulfillment of a promise, a resolve of the persistence is complete – Papa serves all three of them with the treat! All is right with the world. A promise made, a persistent reminder is applied and most importantly a promise is kept. Jesus, teaching on how to pray leads off with the warmest, most affectionate way possible… “Our Father.” Then he ends with a good father story. You dads, if your children ask… well Jesus knew, we know, that sums up just about every toddler, preschooler persona – it’s more like WHEN your children ask!

Setting aside all the “Dad jokes,” teasing and ill-timed humor. GIVING good gifts is all that every good Dad wants to do. So, maybe we should come to our heavenly Dad much more preschoolish than we do. “Good God, I’m asking and I know you always keep your promises and want to give great gifts, I just want to remind you that I am waiting, believing and dependent on you.”

Prayer

Dad,
Jesus couldn’t have made it more clear. You love to be asked and love to give good gifts to your own. I’m asking for some pretty BIG gifts. Oh, they are not for me. Like my oldest granddaughter asking for her sister and cousin, I’m asking for my family and friends. I don’t mind reminding you that I am waiting and trusting you for the results.

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Who is searching for who?

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you. May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, “God is great!” But as for me, I am poor and needy; please hurry to my aid, O God. You are my helper and my savior; O Lord, do not delay.” Psalms‬ ‭70:4-5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​I often wonder who is looking for God, personally seeking him out. I imagine that most are looking for some answers, rest, peace, especially hope. Even in those suffering moments that folks would look outside themselves and be open to the fact that God is watching over them and in that they’ll find a promise. They will find God when they look for him.

Well before I came to Christ at fifteen, I had a sense that someone was watching out for me, watching over me. It wasn’t in a creepy stalking way, but a gentle parental oversight. Even at a young age I had some really frightening moments and felt something trying to help me, I just didn’t understand him or know how to talk to him or ask for help. I know people think that comes natural to a child, but it didn’t with me. I was never really taught about God or even a general sense that he’s out there. And for sure that sense of God was never modeled in our home. That’s kinda of odd when I think about it because it was my adopted mother who dressed me up and sent me off to a church just down the street when I was probably seven or eight years old. I heard some amazing Bible stories, but never made an association that the Jesus in the Bible could also be in my home. It’s hard to understand because by the time I was a teenager, my older sister and my mom were taking me to church every week! I was attending a church and still could not make sense of this general or for sure this personal God idea. I just thought church people were just that, churchy people. I just went along with my Mom because one, I had too and two, it made her happy.

But at a moment before my life could have turned badly, God found me. I saw a genuineness in the youth my age and it made me curious and I wanted what they had, not really knowing exactly what it was. By the Holy Spirit, God touched a nerve, a soft spot, a loss or ache I had but didn’t know how really deep my pain went. So at fifteen I had a moment to reflect on my life, what had happened to me as well as who I was becoming. I was lost and without anyone to help guide me. When the voice offered me hope I immediately knew who it was. Strange huh? I had never interacted with him before, but then this clear voice was coming through, “if you give me your life, I will be your Dad.” I felt very unworthy, very exposed at that moment. I replied back, “I am nobody and I don’t have anything to offer you.” I felt worthless because of my family history and the really horrible things I had done in the few short teenage years of my life. The voice just spoke the offer again, “give me your life and I will be your Dad.” I broke and said “yes.” I cried a pile of snot and tears and watched a mini-series in my mind of just how awful I had been. I felt a real sense of guilt for my decisions, my behaviors and said I was sorry for all the things I had done. I had been searching for God, but I was not really aware of it. He came and found me just in time and offered me a deal that I couldn’t pass up. After two dads that had failed me and a really crummy dad that would soon come into my mother’s life, I was looking forward to God fathering me. And he has. He kept his promise and I still call him Dad.

PRAYER:

Dad,
Where would I be without you? What would I be if you had not rescued me? I am forever grateful that you had mercy on me and offered me a life, not just a great life here, but an absolutely amazing life with you forever! Thank you.

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Real men are not fools.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“While I was at the window of my house, looking through the curtain, I saw some naive young men, and one in particular who lacked common sense.” Proverbs‬ ‭7:6-7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Wisdom, personified as someone looking out of the window of their house, sees young men. I don’t know what kind of neighborhood wisdom lived in but wow, she could look out and see some solicitation happening right across the street!

She sees young men and specifically the one who lacked common sense. What she saw was one of the four words the wisdom writers use for “fool.” Did you know there were four Hebrew words for fool? 1. Keciyl- stupid or silly, 2. Pethiy- seducible or simple, 3. Eviyl- perverse, and 4. Nabal- wicked (for more – bit.ly/biblefool).

Here the word “naive” in other translations is “simple” and yep, you guessed it, the seducible kind. I totally believe that wisdom looks out and sees this in some young men.

However, I’ve seen a lot of “simple” men (not just young) in my life. I used to think these were men who had horrible-to-none father figures, but some had/have great Dads and they just want to be knuckleheads.

I look out my own window and see plenty! I see young men race through neighborhoods, not caring about young children darting out in the street. I hear young men “sharing” their over-driven, expensive, testosterone fueled stereos leaving car alarms blaring and windows shaking. I see really expensive cars, all customized and tricked out with all the bling that could have gone into a ring for their girl. I see prison tats and angry death-glares as they swagger down our street scoping out a score or peeing spray paint to tag a neighbors wall. I hear f-bombs dropped as they talk to their woman and illegitimate children in tow. Oh, I see and hear a lot of vibrato, but I do not see men or maturity. I see fools.

I drive though my city and see young boys, preschoolers walking with their moms. They are as cute and as innocent as can be. I pray they don’t grow up to be fools, but I also know about the vicious cycles of a macho culture that will leave them with few choices to follow wisdom.

My heart breaks. I, like wisdom herself, want to call out and beg them not to be seduced by all the evils of this world, all the easy opportunities to just grow up mirroring what they saw in their own estranged father.

These stories of the simple do not turn out well. The wisdom writers, speaking of the temptress, say, “Her house is the road to the grave. Her bedroom is the den of death.” Honestly, sex isn’t the only seduction – power is just as tempting. And young men who figure out “to be feared, is to be powerful,” mistake the real purpose of power. Real men, wise, mature men, know that real power is to protect the weak, not intimidate them. And real men know that sex is not love. Sex is given, received and experienced in a lifetime bond of commitment and sacrifice to one woman; and to make kids that grow up secure, protected, and wise to love God & others.

PRAYER:

Dad,
I would never have figured out how to be a man if you had not found me and rescued me from a cycle of chaos. You pulled me out of generations of some good-hearted but weak, simple men trying to be fathers in my life. Of course, Ben, dad #3, wasn’t kind at all he was a Nabal kind of fool – wicked and conniving to his core. Thank you for wisdom. Thank you for discipline of character. Thank you for being a great Dad!