"Hey, Dad! Will Your Children Want to be Like You?"

By DR. DAVID L.CHANCEY
Pastor

A college professor came home after a going out to dinner with his wife. While the babysitter had been preoccupied, his son located the electric shaver and put a runway down the middle of his head. His father was livid. "Didn't I tell you to never touch my shaver?" You're going to get the spanking of your life."

The son piped up and said, "Wait until you see my sister!"

The father called for his daughter, and when she entered the room, he about fell out. She was completely buzzed. Not a hair on her head. He couldn't believe it and exclaimed, "How could you do this?"

They replied together, "But, Dad, we just wanted to look like you!"

Are you a father that kids want to follow? George Herbert said, "One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters."

Too many fathers give good advice but set a poor example. One little boy had a bike wreck and came running into the house scraped and bleeding and said, "Dad, I wrecked my bike. What are those words you use when you hit the golf bad bad?"

A father shared that he used to smoke a big cigar after dinner. One summer on vacation at the beach, he was sitting on the porch enjoying his cigar. He'd smoke the cigar and set it down, then pick it up and set it down. He looked over after a few moments and there was his five-year-old daughter standing there with the big cigar in her mouth. The father decided that was his last cigar. It didn't matter what he told her. She was watching what he did and the example he set. If Daddy smoked cigars, then it must be all right.

Some things aren't all right, so we parents have to be so careful to send the right signals to our keen and observant children. We need to give the right example, but we also need to teach the right character. Example is external; character is internal. Character has more to do with who we are than with what we do. What we do flows out of who we are. Character has to do with being all that God wants us to be and living the life God wants us to live.

Sammy Sosa, the Chicago Cubs slugger, is having a hard time at the moment. In a recent game, Sosa's bat shattered and its illegal insides were exposed. There was no hiding the fact that this particular bat had been drilled out and filled with cork. Major League Baseball suspended Sosa for seven games for using a bat that was fixed to make the ball travel further. Sosa's explanation was that he mistakenly grabbed a corked bat that he uses in batting practice to entertain fans with long homeruns.

Major League Baseball x-rayed 76 other Sosa bats and declared them clean. Sosa was contrite, but the damage is done, his image shattered as badly as his bat. His character is now being called into question. Did he use corked bats previously to help him reach the esteemed 500-home run mark? Time will tell if he becomes a Hall of Famer, but there will always be a dark cloud over Sosa's career. Sosa will be remembered for cheating in this one at-bat.

We need dads of impeccable character who will do right and be right, as best they can with God's help. Dads who will be moral in an immoral world and will stand for right when everyone around us readily accepts what is wrong. Will you be that kind of Dad?

A young boy became ill and underwent a series of tests. The results showed terminal illness. The doctors said he had only months to live. As the months passed, the family made the most of the time. As the end crept nearer, one day the dad asked his son, "Are you afraid to meet Jesus?"

The little boy bravely replied, "No, Dad, not if He's like you!"

"His little arms crept around my neck,

And then I heard him say,

Four simple words I can't forget,

Four words that made me pray.

They turned a mirror on my soul,

On secrets no one knew,

They startled me, I hear them yet,

He said, "I'll be like you!"

(Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor of McDonough Road Baptist Church in Fayetteville. The church family meets at 352 McDonough Road and invites you to join them this Sunday for Bible study at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10:55 a.m.)