On Being a Dad
For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to be a dad. I wish I could tell you it was because of the great example my dad set for me but unfortunately that was not the case. What I do believe is that God redeems things by taking difficult situations and using them for good in our lives. As a result of what was missing in my life as a child, God began to form in my mind and heart what I wanted to be like as a dad, what I wanted my relationship with my wife to be like, and what I wanted our home to be like. I am happy to report that for the most part things turned out amazing and I give God all the credit.
There’s a story in the Bible that has absolutely formed my view of what God is like and the type of dad I wanted to be. It’s found in Luke’s Gospel chapter 15 verses 11-32. Here’s the short version.
A man had two sons. The younger son asked his father to give him the money that his father had promised him, and his father obliged. The younger son then left home and went to live in a ‘far country’. He soon went through all of the money his father had given him, through living in a ‘riotous’ and careless manner. When all his money had gone, a famine spread across the land, and he found himself starving. To support himself, he went and found work in the fields, feeding the pigs. He was so hungry he would gladly have eaten the food the pigs ate. One day he realized that his father’s servants had bread enough to eat, and yet he had none. So, he resolved to go home and beg for his father’s forgiveness and ask his father to take him in under his roof as one of his hired servants. When the son returned home, his father saw him in the distance, and ran to him and kissed him. The son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son’. But his father ordered his servants to fetch his best robe, and put it on his son, and to put a ring on his hand and shoes on his son’s feet. He then ordered them to prepare a fatted calf for their meal, so they can eat and celebrate the prodigal son’s return, ‘For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found’.
Here are the characteristics I see in this Father that are worth emulating:
1) The Father was a great provider, teacher, and example.
2) The Father was willing to let the son fail (which is hard).
3) The Father never quit hoping and expecting the son to return home.
4) The Father forgave and restored his son. He did not condemn him.
5) Because of his love the Father positioned himself to speak into and influence the son’s future story.
There’s much to be said about this story but I’ll summarize by saying it has been one of the greatest honors in my life to be a dad. I’ve loved every season of life with my kids. I loved when they were babies, watching them learn, take their first steps, and begin to talk. I loved going to school plays, awards assemblies, and ball games. I loved our “pallet in the floor nights”, Star Wars marathons, and QT stops. I loved watching their personalities form, habits develop, and each become their own person. I loved family trips, exploring new places, and watching them grow into young adults. I loved watching them graduate, go to college, and start careers. And I love that I get to enjoy a wonderful relationship with each of them as adults. I hope they would say that I’ve been a great dad. I’ve certainly enjoyed it. But I am who I am because of the profound influence THE Father (represented in the story) has had on my life. Rather than condemn me He forgave and restored me. He celebrated my return and called me son. That’s one amazing Dad!