What to say to dads? Here's what hit me and I pass it along for all you dad's out there:
Happy Father's Day to you all. As one with you I celebrate you in one of the most important roles of life - being a husband and dad.
I have great memories of kids growing up, even if at the time it didn't always seem to be great.
There are a lot of things on your mind as a Dad. I know, and that is why I commend you to trust God and seek him for all that needs to be done.
I think I was about 25 or 26, Kelly was a baby, Chris was inside of Linda's womb and I ran across a verse from Genesis that stuck with me - has stuck with me all these years.
It is a story from the Joseph and his brothers narrative, where Joseph is now the Prime Minister, his brothers come seeking food and at this point he is still hidden from their sight. Joseph has just managed to trick them by putting a gold cup in his brother's Benjamin's sack, and he has been "caught" supposedly trying to steal it. Joseph, of course, is setting him up, in hopes that he can get him to stay.
It is here that a dialogue happens, and it hit me then, and still does today, what Judah, one of the oldest brothers ends up pleading to the yet unknown Joseph...I'll let you read it here:
Genesis 44:21-34 (NIV)
21 "Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.'
22 And we said to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.'
23 But you told your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.'
24 When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.
25 "Then our father said, 'Go back and buy a little more food.'
26 But we said, 'We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'
27 "Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons.
28 One of them went away from me, and I said, "He has surely been torn to pieces." And I have not seen him since.
29 If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.'
30 "So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy's life,
31 sees that the boy isn't there, he will die. Your servants will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow.
32 Your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said, 'If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!'
33 "Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.
34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father."
21 "Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.'
22 And we said to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.'
23 But you told your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.'
24 When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.
25 "Then our father said, 'Go back and buy a little more food.'
26 But we said, 'We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'
27 "Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons.
28 One of them went away from me, and I said, "He has surely been torn to pieces." And I have not seen him since.
29 If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.'
30 "So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy's life,
31 sees that the boy isn't there, he will die. Your servants will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow.
32 Your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said, 'If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!'
33 "Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.
34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father."
It is that last line in vs 34 that made me seek God for my children... I do not want to go to the Father if my children are not with me...and it would make God even sadder than me.
The most important thing you are, and will be, is a husband and a father...
The rest of what I wrote was personal to them...but there it is.
My greatest desire in life was to live in such a way that my children knew God...that I loved God with all of my heart, and that I wanted them to know him and to love him too.
To ALL of you Dads: Happy Father's Day.
Peace
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