Life as a Christian Father

He just came down to live with me and my wife on Father's Day of last year. That was a nice present, right?

Well, at first I looked at it as an opportunity to raise him in the manner that I wasn't. I wanted to save him from the devouring nature of our secular society. And of course I still want to do the same, but now that I'm getting used to having him in my life, I am seeing it from a different perspective. Not only has God given me the chance to uproot that generational curse of a Godly disconnect, my Lord is also letting me see just how painful it is for Him to raise me!

An associate expressed this perspective to me and it has stuck. Look at it like this: God is the only real parent and we're just surrogates. How do we model our parenting skills? Whom do we look to for guidance about those real-life circumstances in which we have to dig in deep and pull up wisdom and not a bellowing shout? Yeah, Dr. Phil's ok, my wife loves him. But ultimately we have to look to God for this wisdom and the more I think about it, the more I'm understanding that my little drama with a ten year old, overly bright boy is nothing in comparison to the drama I've been given God for close to 38 years.

Today he's on a school trip to Tennessee. Over the weekend I'm going to write him a letter and let him know how much I love him. If you've seen "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" think of the father/police officer who told his son how much he loved him every chance he got. That's how I'm about to be with my boy.

This journey is a pain in the shin, but you know what? As long as I keep seeking God's face and reading my Word for those parenting lessons, I'll be more appreciative of how blessed it is to be a parent of such an amazing kid.