Responsible Father

As I wrote this week’s fighter verse song application post, I starting thinking that there might be a hidden command in it.

Proverbs 6:20-21

My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck.

So the primary truth in this verse is that kids should consider their parent’s words and teachings to be very important.

But I think there is a message for parents as well: Be careful what you teach them. Because God is telling them to bind these words on their hearts.

If you are not careful, you might drag them down with unhelpful rules and criticism. You might bind them up with legalism or permissivism. You might pull them apart with inconsistency.

Your guidance should serve to lead them, protect them and point them to the Gospel.

Our son Erik was born one year and a day after his older sister Adelyn was born.

He just turned nine.

Here are some things you should know about Erik

1. He likes physical touch. We knew this even before he walked up to Debbie and I one morning (four years ago) as we were saying goodbye and said, “Hug Group!”. He is the one who most often requests that all of us wrestle.

2. For his age, he’s the tallest of our children.

3. He likes to laugh and he tries to make us laugh. And I like it when I make him laugh.

4. When Debbie asked him what he’d like to do with her, he answered “Make a cherry pie”. Our whole family benefited from the result.

5. We love Erik and we’re glad he’s a part of our family.

Ten years ago this weekend (the last weekend in April) the Twin Cites had a blizzard. I’m on record as saying that I am the insane type of person who likes that kind of late snow storm, but this was had snow heavy enough to knock down power lines, and some time during that weekend we lost power.

I should also mention that at some time that weekend Debbie went into labor.

Sunday morning we still didn’t have power, but our friends Chris and Nina invited us and our three boys over for Sunday dinner (Roast Beef!) and Debbie remembers sitting at the table and cringing every fifteen minutes when the next contraction hit.

And the next day, Adelyn Rose was born!

Our first girl. So Debbie made dresses. And the boys like to hold her. And she gave us joy.

And now she is ten! She still gives us joy.

Let me tell you three things about her.

1. She still likes wearing dresses. She is almost never seen not wearing one.

2. She likes setting a table. Whereas most of our kids like to be surprised by a table all set and made fancy for the birthday meal, it was her joy this weekend to stay up late to make the table exactly like she wanted it.

3. She was pretty much in heaven at the Father Daughter Tea last weekend. Roses, royalty, dressing up, elegant dining, focused attention from her dad, wearing white gloves. Yes, how could it get any better?

Oh and also –

4. She likes small things, even if they are  snakes. Please see the corresponding picture.

Adelyn is loved by her parents, her siblings, her friends and her heavenly father. On her birthday, I prayed that this year she will be drawn closer to God.

May He grant that it be so.

Dads, Daylight Savings begins on Sunday morning, but you can make moving the clock forward a little easier by changing them Friday night.

This makes the change a little less abrupt and makes Friday, not Saturday, the short night. Getting up Sunday morning will be easier.

Dads, you know that chronic sin that you see in your child? There may be a real, non-sinful need that is not being met for this child which is a cause of the sinful behavior.

While it is true that you should deal with your child’s sin, you should also try to discover the non-sinful need and see if you can meet it.

Dads, if you want to help your son or daughter learn how to read, go to the bookstore with them and find a book that they are very interested in reading. And then have them read that to you. If it has words that are too big for him or her, just read them for your child.

My work’s phone system allows us to save messages left by callers. Over the years I have saved several from my kids, because they remind me why I like them.

Yesterday, we got the memo that we’re getting a new phone message system and all of these messages are going to be deleted. So to prevent them from being lost forever, I have transcribed them.

They made my wife laugh and she suggested that I post them.

So here they are – the first is Daniel and the rest is Barrett.

===

Hi, Mommy wants to know if you found your note book and if we should look for it. Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, and one more ‘Bye’, and this is the real Bye.

===

Hi this is Barrett, um, We were thinking, well, if you’re going to stay home tomorrow, I mean maybe a little bit early, I mean leave late, . . . um, Carl will make sticky rolls and eggs and bacon for breakfast on Thursday, and he’ll get up really early to make it, too . . .  Or . . . if you’re not going to, we’ll have sticky rolls today and cold cereal tomorrow.

Please call back when you reach this.

Love you, I mean, I love you, Bye

===

Hello, if you are Scott Jamison please call back. Bye, I love you.

===

Hi, Um, This is Barrett, Um . .  Us, Daniel and me and Erik, would like to play croquet and I never got the rocket. Do you think you could get the stuff that we need that is there, um, at work – Do you think you could get it there? ‘Cause, I’d like – it would be cool if we could make it next Saturday. I don’t know – not that I want to shoot it off, but I would like to look at it as it is . . built.

So I hope you call back soon, and I love you, Bye

==

Hi, This is Barrett. If you won’t, if you can’t guess how my eye appointment went, I’ll tell you in ten seconds . . . Okay, I can tell you now. It, um, it was exactly the same as last time. Bye. I love you.

====

Hi, this is Barrett, and Daniel and me know how to get the sleds down and we really want to because we’re going outside, so if you don’t call quickly we’re just going to get them down. Bye.

===

Hi, this is Barrett. Um, We don’t have any more gas and the riding lawn more just ran out of gas and Foster wants to say ‘Hi’, Okay? [Foster] The lawn more doesn’t have gas! [Barrett] Now say, ‘hello’. [Foster] Hello! [Barrett] bye bye [Foster] Bye Bye! [Barrett] Okay, bye.

===

Dads (who live in the Twin Cities)!

The Minnesota History Center is Free every Tuesday evening until 8:00.

It always has interesting exhibits and your kids will learn.

If you have young kids, make sure to bring them to climb around in the Grain Elevator.

As an aside, do you like how this picture formatted?