Pastor’s Corner
Father’s Day has always meant different things for me. I had several father figures in my life, and have been one for others. My folks divorced when I was in the second grade, and we moved from North Dakota to North Carolina, where I had been born to be with my maternal grandparents. My grandfather was extremely special to me, sharing sports games; learning how to play baseball; helping me learn to drive, etc.
I had a step-father while in junior high, but let’s not go there. A few years later, my dad came back into my life. When I was at wake Forest, I played intramural basketball. I remember one day in the winter, my dad came in with his boots on and found a chair to watch me play. And he hates basketball! It has been a blessing to have him in my life since.
In 1983, Beth and I were about to be married. Her dad John sat in a room with me while we were waiting. He was a bit intimidating-a big, proud Italian man who I had only met a couple of times. But over the years, I came to respect him and even love him for raising my wife and her siblings.
As Beth and I raised our son and daughter, I not only taught a lot of lessons, but learned many myself. Then as a grandfather of three, it has been a real blessing to be around them and taking them to church.
Our Father in Heaven has shown us how to be a father and has blessed many of us with families. May we rededicate ourselves to being the fathers and grandfathers the Lord would have us be.
Just Like His Dad
Well, what are you going to be my boy, when you have reached manhood’s years;
A doctor, a lawyer, or actor great, moving throngs to laughter and tears?
But he shook his head, as he gave reply, in a serious way he had.
“I don’t think I’d care to be any of them; I want to be like my dad!”
He wants to be like his Dad! You men, did you ever think, as you pause,
That the boy who watches your every move is building a set of laws?
He’s molding a life you’re the model for, and whether it’s good or bad,
Depends on the kind of example set to the boy who’d be like his dad.
Would you have him go everywhere you go?
Have him do just the things you do?
And see everything that your eyes behold, and woo all the gods you woo?
When you see the worship that shines in the eyes of your lovable little lad,
Could you rest content if he gets his wish, and grows to be like his dad?
An Open Letter
Dear Dad,
There are so many things I’d like to tell you face to face;
I either lack the word or fail to find the time or place.
But in this special letter, Dad. You’ll find, at least, in part,
The feelings that the passing years have left within my heart.
The memories of childhood days, and all that you have done
To make our home a happy place and growing up such fun!
I still recall the walks we took, the games we often played,
Those confidential chats we had while resting in the shade.
This letter comes to thank you, Dad, for needed words of praise;
The counsel and the guidance, too, that shaped my grown-up days.
No words of mine can tell you, Dad, the things I really feel,
But you must know my love for you is lasting warm and real.
You made my world a better place, and through the coming years;
I’ll keep these memories of you as cherished souvenirs!
Signed, your grateful son.
“Sentence Fillers”
“A man of words and not of deeds, is like a garden full of weeds.”
“An atheist is a man who builds a house without windows and then blames God because he has to live in the dark.”
“Some people wouldn’t tolerate what is preached against their sins-except they figure that others need to hear it so badly.”
“One of the benefits of inflation is that children no longer get sick on a nickel’s worth of candy.”
“The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.”
“If it’s such a small world, why does it cost so much to run it?”
“A great deal of what we see depends on what we are looking for”
Chuckles
Just sold my homing pigeon on eBay for the 22nd time!
“I child-proofed my house, but the kids still get in.”
Internal Revenue agent to taxpayer: “We sympathize with your problems, but they won’t fit into our computer.”
Little Susan was mother’s helper. She helped set the table when company was due for dinner. After the guests came in, the mother noticed Mr Smith didn’t have a fork and knife. Susan said “But daddy says he always eats like a horse.”
For years the man’s wife complained about his habit of leaving the top off the toothpaste tube. Finally, on their 25th anniversary, he decided to please her, and started putting it back on. After a week, she eyed him suspiciously at breakfast one morning, and said “How come you stopped brushing your teeth?”
Casey asked her Sunday school teacher a question: “If the people of Israel are Israelites, and the people of Canaan are Canaanites, are the people of Paris called Parasites?”