Fathers

Deuteronomy 6: 4-9

Ephesians 6: 4

Luke 15: 21-24

Fathers

One mother said "While I was driving with my 7-year-old daughter, Katie, she kept encouraging me to go faster. I explained to her that I was already going the speed limit and could not legally drive any faster. Not satisfied with my reasoning, Katie replied, ‘You need to get a car like Daddy’s. It has a faster speed limit!’"

A little girl once said to her mother, “Mommy, if Santa Claus brings our presents, and the Easter Bunny brings us candy and colored eggs, and God gives us our daily bread, and Uncle Sam gives us Social Security, why do we keep daddy around?”

Father’s Day has a very interesting history embedded in it. The thought for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington. The idea of having a Father’s Day came to the mind of Sonora Smart while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in Central Methodist Church in 1909. After the death of her mother, she along with her siblings was raised by her father, William Jackson Smart. Sonora wanted to tell her father how special he was and what role he played in her life. She wanted to honor her father’s parental sacrifices that he made for his children. She wanted him to know what courageous, selfless and loving man he was. Since Sonora’s father was born in June, she chose to hold the first Father’s Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June in the year 1910.

Father’s Day was declared a national event by President Calvin Coolidge in 1924. The National Father’s Day Committee was formed in New York City in 1926

A Joint Resolution of Congress recognized the Father’s day in 1956 and in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson declared the 3^rd Sunday of June as Fathers Day.  In 1972 President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father’s Day to be held on the third Sunday of June. Thus, Father’s Day was born in memory and appreciation by a daughter who believed that her father and all other fathers should be honored with a special day just like mothers are honored on Mother’s Day. It is a day to celebrate fatherhood and male parenting. Though it is celebrated n a variety of dates throughout the world, the commonality among all celebrations is the gift-giving, special dinners for fathers and family-oriented activities

The presence of a Father in the home makes a tremendous difference in a child's future. Did you know that children from a fatherless home are:
5 times more likely to commit suicide;
32 times more likely to run away;
20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders;
14 times more likely to commit rape;
9 times more likely to drop out of high school;
10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances;
and 9 times more likely to end up in state-operated institutions?

Myrna and I met at a summer camp for fatherless boys. We spent several summers working with boys anywhere from age 6 to 18 who had either never known a father or who had lost their father one way or another after they were born.  Or, in a few cases, their father was in prison. Many of those boys had loving mothers and turned out very well as adults. Many had loving mothers but didn’t turn out so well. And some had mothers who didn’t care. All of these boys had a man who volunteered to be a Big Brother in their life. For some, that was the only male role model they had.

Some of those boys did very well as adults. A few have had a rough life. And a couple didn’t make it at all. It was a sobering experience, even with the ones who have turned out well, to watch them grow up without a father in their life.

Unfortunately, for too many children there are no fathers around. For too many children the father who is around is abusive. Today we honor those fathers who are true and loving fathers, who would—or have—willingly given their lives for their children, and who try to live lives that demonstrate the kinds of values our society needs—the values that we find that God holds out to all of us, not just to fathers.

For me, it has been so very special to watch our children grow. They have been enjoyable at all ages, and now as adults they are fascinating and wonderful to be around. I admire them. They have made it an awesome, wonderful experience to be a father, and I am grateful to them for all they have taught, and are teaching me. They will never know how much they have given me in comparison to what I have done for them.

For me, as intense as my love for our kids has been, it awes me to know God’s love for all of us exceeds any of the love we as humans share.

But, we must recognize for some people, their relationship with their father was or possibly is still strained and holds painful memories. My relationship with my father was not a good one. For others, it’s a mixture of joy and sadness, because they have fond memories of their father, but that’s all they have now, because he is deceased.

We must also think of the fathers who mourn the death of a child and how Father’s Day holds a certain emptiness for them. Father’s Day is a yearly reminder of that void.

Recognizing that today brings together a multitude of emotions, instead of praising fathers for their invaluable roles, or admonishing fathers to pick up the slack a little bit, I’d rather turn our attention to our Heavenly Father, and focus on His characteristics as the perfect parent for a little bit, celebrating who he is.

For some of us, our relationship and understanding of our Heavenly Father is about love and comfort, peace and security. But for some, that’s not the case. There are those who interpret parts of the Bible to mean that fathers should be stern disciplinarians, and should be ready to punish disobedience harshly and quickly. There are parts of the Old Testament in particular that if taken out of context, including out of the context of the historical time in which they were written, could be used to present that kind of image of a father.

But Jesus, the Son of God, presents a whole different image of what a father should be to his children. Jesus teaches us that God is Love. A loving parent who only wants the very best for us, who is quick to forgive our failings, and who grieves with us when things go wrong. That is also the kind of earthly father children long for, and need.

We live in a time when more and more children do not have positive contact with their fathers. Unfortunately, we live in a time when more and more children do not have positive contact with God either. Fathers are a tremendous influence for their children. Fathers who come to church regularly help children grow up knowing God and having faith in Him.

The challenge for fathers is to be there for our children regardless of our age or their age, with love. As fathers of all ages, regardless of how old our children are, through our love we show our children the love of God. Our job is to model the compassion of our Father in heaven while we live as fathers on earth. We should manifest Christ in our lives so that our children will seek Christ in theirs. and bend low in extending our experience hand to one who is seeking to find his or her way.