Little Moments of Truth

I've learned several things from my dad. Getting up and helping your wife when she asks for it is more important than watching the game. Your kids will remember little things like rebuilding a bicycle, working in the yard together or cheering from the sideline. Church is a crucial component to the spiritual building blocks of your family, as a unit and as individuals. You will have succeeded as a parent if your kids don't understand the personal sacrifices you made until they grow up and have children of their own. Dad is someone you can always come and talk to about anything. It's never a bad idea to get help from someone who knows more than you do. Helping someone usually makes you feel better than the person you are helping.

This, of course, is not an exhaustive list. But there's one other thing my dad taught me: Everything is an opportunity to teach your kids something about Jesus. The other day Taylor found herself in the garage with her dad in a pair of her mom's shoes, trouncing around and having fun. Moments later mom came into the garage and told Taylor that she probably shouldn't be wearing those shoes because they recently were home to a few pebbles of rodent excrement. You can only imagine how a little 5 year old girl would respond to such a happenstance. I could only duck as over-sized shoes came hurling across the garage as tiny feet kicked them off with what can only be described as an adrenaline induced shot of super-human strength. Only to be followed by a streak of red hair dashing into the bathroom.

There she encountered a dilemma. Her feet, her dirty feet, she didn't want to touch them. She wanted them clean but she didn't want to touch them. This could only result in the impoverished cry for help from the only person brave enough for a job so disgustingly untouchable: DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADY! What is a dad to do? I put down what I was working on, filled the tub with water and began to wash her feet.

When we were done I had the opportunity to sit down with my daughter and I read her John 13 where Jesus washed his disciples feet. We had a nice little discussion about love, about how Jesus showed his love and how we should show our live like Jesus did. I will always think of my dad as king of the object lesson. A glass of root beer and some Drano (since SOMEONE kept drinking the root beer and soap) and boom ... an object lesson. For me, that will always be a substantial component of my father's legacy. He turned on a switch that taught me how to see God in events seemingly unrelated to how God relates to us; how God loves me, how He loves His bride, how God interacts with us and how we can interact with God. My father taught me how to see and understand my Father in my everyday. And if I can pass that on to my children, the ability to see God in unique situations, to hear Him speak and call them gently to Himself in seemingly innocuous happenstances, then I know I will have had some success as a father.