The Mark of a Great Dad!

He isn’t your ordinary father.  He has always been around to lead and teach and to discipline and to protect and to love and to pass on values that will sustain each of his children through life.  His work ethic is extraordinary.  His devotion to his wife no matter the hardships has been inspiring and his desire to lead a godly life is evident in his speech and actions. 

On July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig declared himself the “luckiest man on the face of the earth” to have played for the Yankee’s.  Today, I declare myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth to have been blessed with a father who helped shape me into the man I am today. 

My father was born on March 1^st 1938 in the little town of Walnut Ridge, Arkansas.  His surroundings were farms of cotton, corn, beans and cattle.  The Black River provided a place of recreation and the one room school was his formal education.  His childhood wasn’t filled with all the gadgets we have today, rather it was filled with work and taking care of things around the farm in which he grew up on. 

My siblings and I have had the opportunity many times as children to visit my dad’s childhood places.  Some of us were taught how to swim in the Black River by my dad and we pretended we were the teachers at the one room school that had become over time a dilapidated building.   We walked the dirt streets where my dad once played and ran through the fields where he once worked. 

The older I get, the more I realize the impact my father has made on me.  The values, morals, ethics, integrity didn’t come by chance; rather, they came from a man who has been immersed in a relationship with God for decades.  As I write this, my eyes are filled with tears of joy because I would not be the man I am today without the father God has given me.  He is godly.  He is gentle.  He is patient.  He is loving.  He is respectful.  He is loyal.  He is a servant. 

The Gospel of Luke describes a story of a son who wanted his inheritance before his dad died so that he could experience the world.  The father granted the inheritance and the son left to sow his wild oats.  The story goes on to say that the son spent all the money and wanted to go home.  The father saw the son from a distance and had compassion on him, ran to him, threw his arms around him and kissed him.  The father was thrilled his son was home and they had a big party of eating, music and dancing.  You see; the father was more in love with his son than he was with his farm.  He was overjoyed that his son was now safe at home.

I’ve seen my dad do the same for one of his sons.  Day in and day out he would wonder where one of his children was.  One night he gets a call.  “Hi dad, this is Keith…can I come home….” The next morning my dad takes off and drives hundreds of miles to bring his lost son home.  My father has helped all six of his children to success in life.  Whether it was financial help, comfort in times of struggle or spiritual advice, he has been there through the thick and the thin. 

For 30 plus years an alarm clock would wake him up at four in the morning to start his day at General Motors in St. Louis, MO.  For 50 years of my life, I have witnessed a man who has admired Jesus so much that he can’t help but tell others about him.  My father has taught hundreds and hundreds about Jesus; mostly though, he taught all six of his children the importance of godly living and faithfulness to Jesus. 

The mark of a great father isn’t in how much he can purchase for their children, rather the mark of a great father is teaching and loving and disciplining and walking the second and third and fourth and fifth miles with each one. 

I am blessed to have a great father.  I love you with all my heart, DAD!

Brian