Sunday, June 17, 2001
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Sunday, June 17, 2001 |
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The tale of two fathers By DR. DAVID CHANCEY
Paul Harvey wrote that a father "is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth without an anesthetic." As hard as childbirth is, it's the upbringing that wears you out. A weary man was pushing a cart containing a screaming toddler through the grocery store. The dad kept saying, "Calm down, Robert. We only have three more items to find. We'll be home soon. Just try to relax, and after we get home it will be nap time." An experienced mother noticed this one-sided conversation and gentle touch and complimented the father, "I'm impressed at how patient you are being with little Robert. Most parents would be at their wit's end by now." The father replied, "Oh, his name is Steve. I'm Robert!" There's nothing like fatherhood, and today we salute all of our fathers who mean so much to us. William Wordsworth said, "The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and labor." We thank our dads for all the little things that mean so much, especially the gift of spending time with their kids. The wise dad has discovered that to a kid, love is spelled t-i-m-e. There are two kinds of dads those who invest time into their kids, and those who are too busy to do so. Reflecting upon Father's Day, one man tells of an experience with his dad that he has never forgotten. "I was 12 years old when my Boy Scout troop planned a father-son campout. I was thrilled and could hardly wait to rush home and give my father all of the information. I wanted so much to show him all I'd learned in scouting, and I was so proud when he said he'd go with me. "The Friday of the campout finally came and I had all my gear out on the porch, ready to stuff it into the car the moment he came home from work. We were to meet at school at 5 p.m. and carpool to the campground. "My dad didn't get home until 7 p.m. I was frantic, but he explained that things had gone wrong at work and told me not to worry. We could still get up first thing in the morning and join the camp out. I was disappointed, but decided to make the best of it. "First thing in the morning, I was up and had everything in the car while it was still getting light. Dad said we'd leave around 7 a.m. and I was ready at 6:30 a.m. But Dad didn't even come out of his room until 9 a.m. "When he saw me standing out front with the camping gear, he finally explained that he had a bad back and couldn't sleep on the ground. He hoped I'd understand, but could I please get my things out of his car because he had several commitments he had to keep. "Just about the hardest thing I've ever done was to go to the car and take out my sleeping bag, cooking stove, pup tent and supplies. And then while I was putting my stuff away in the storage shed and Dad thought I couldn't see, I watched as my father carried his golf clubs out and threw them into the car and drive off to keep his 'commitment.' "That's when I realized my dad never meant to go with me to the campout. I didn't matter to him, but his buddies did." Brian has carried the hurt of this episode all of his life. On the other hand, there was the dad whose son became ill. The doctor put him into the hospital where a series of tests were run. Eventually the family was confronted with the shocking news that the son was terminally ill, and that his illness was progressing very fast. The father knew his boy had received Jesus as his Savior, so when death came, his son would spend eternity in heaven. One day the son asked about his diagnosis, and the father gently told him that sometime in the near future he would get to go live with Jesus. "Are you afraid to meet Jesus?" asked the devout father. The little boy said bravely, "No, Daddy, not if he's like you!" Fathers, do your kids want to follow in your footsteps? Which Dad are you most like? The Rev. Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor, McDonough Road Baptist Church in Fayetteville. Members invite you to join them this Sunday for Bible study at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10:55 a.m. The church is at 352 McDonough Road, just down the street from the soccer fields.
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