“For decades, researchers have argued that a key source of falling fertility was that men didn’t help out enough at home. It’s an appealing theory….This Father’s Day, it’s worth noting that this theory is almost certainly wrong: today’s dads do more than ever before.” - IFS
First posted at Sharper Iron on July 24, 2009. Larry Blumer, the “Dad” in this essay, went to be with the Lord August 17, 2011.
An old adage says that when you’re sixteen your dad doesn’t know anything, when you’re twenty-six he’s occasionally sensible, and when you’re thirty-six he’s one of the wisest people you know. I can testify that there is some truth in that observation. Though I still rarely seek my dad’s advice, it’s because—at age forty-three—I have come to realize how much of his advice I’ve already absorbed from growing up around him.
Our Savior bought us with His own blood in order to redeem us and remake us in His image. That transformation is central to His great gospel purpose. In my life, He used my dad to accomplish some important parts of that purpose.
I don’t think my dad sat down and planned, “I need to teach these four values to my kids.” He did it mostly by just being there and speaking his mind (sometimes with passion!) in the context of a life that made what he meant unmistakably clear.
Bob Jones Sr. was fond of saying, “The greatest ability is dependability,” but that concept was familiar to me long before I read it in high school. I remember hearing as a kid, “If you say you’re going to do something, you do it. If you say you’re going to be somewhere, you be there,” and other variations on that theme (See Prov. 25:19). Dad wasn’t trying to preach, but his words drove a biblical principle deep into my young mind.
“’Dad,’ the son said to his father loudly enough that I could hear, ‘How come mom got roses on Mother’s Day and you get a lecture?’” - The Baptist Paper
“We certainly want to share eternity with our dads… but our longing for our unbelieving fathers’ salvation shouldn’t keep us from celebrating them now for the earthly good they’ve done.” - TGC
