THE
FACTS OF THE MATTER
"A weekly letter of
encouragement to business and professional men and women"
Good Morning!
A
WORD TO DADS...
Dear Colleague,
Sawyer - my
grandson is an original. Carrot red hair.
Freckles. Six years old. Lives and breaths race
cars. At last count he had about 170 of those small metal
replicas you buy at Wal-Mart.
A few weeks ago,
he and I bought a soccer ball - kid size - to kick around at the beach.
At the check out stand I also purchased a couple of packs
of gum, gave him a stick and took out one for myself.
"Thanks Papa!" came his response. A couple of
minutes down the road I tossed him a second stick. "Papa,
you can't chew two sticks of gum at a time!" "Why not," I
queried? So, we both chomped down on two sticks!
A few minutes
later, while still en route, I tossed him a third, then a forth, and a
fifth stick. "Hey Sawyer, why don't we go for the world's
record of five sticks in our mouth?" "Papa!!"
And with that we stuffed our chops with the remaining
sticks; exhausting our jaws while kicking the soccer ball around.
On our way home in
the car, one of the two "world record holders" broke the silence with,
"Papa ... I love you." To which the other responded, "I
love you too, Sawyer."
A few days ago,
when Sawyer was back at our home visiting, we shattered the world
record with 10 sticks each. Our new goal, the next time
he's here, is to go for 15, and another world record!
Now I know that
old guys like me are suppose to be serious and all. Titus 2:2 give us the guidelines, "Teach
the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and
sound in faith, in love and in endurance."
But do we have to be stuffed shirts?
You see, I have a
hidden agenda: Eight or ten years from now this freckle-faced
carrot top will be a full-blown teenage type. And my guess
is that he, like most teens will be testing the boundaries.
So I'm preparing now for that day when he will need his
fellow gum chewing co-world record holder "Papa" to sit down with him
over a Coke and talk things over. It is my intention that
the power of our bond will at least equalize the pressure of his peers,
as he faces choices about drugs, sex, integrity, life goals, etc., etc.
The other day - my
wife and I were with Sawyer and his little sister at the Fair.
As we waited to enter, a father took off his hat and
slapped his son - a boy about Sawyer's age - across the head and
yelled, "Sit down!! Now!! On the ground!!
Sit!!!" You know ... I wonder if that Dad ever crawls
around on the floor playing race cars with his kid, or breaks world
records. I wonder if he is preparing for his son's teenage
years by developing a deep abiding relationship. Doubtful.
So
Dad, how are you doing?
Are you building the quality of
relationships and memories with your kids that will carry the family
during those challenging years when they will be thinking and deciding
for themselves? When they will be bombarded with
unimaginable temptations and choices?
Or are you simply
functioning as the in-house shadow of God's idea of a Father?
"Fathers,
don't exasperate your children by coming down hard on them.
Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master."
(Eph. 6:4 - The Message)
My prayer is that
you are having a great week!
R. Dwight Hill
Facts
of the Matter © 2000 R. Dwight Hill - www.factsofthematter.org
- Unlimited permission to copy without altering text or profiteering is
hereby granted subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.
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