Category Archive

For a child, being sunburnt in public is like a wearing a sign that says, “Yes, my dad couldn’t plan ahead enough to avoid this.”

Dads, don’t be that dad.

Two days ago (if I’ve understood the schedule correctly – update: I haven’t understood correctly – it’s actually Aug 1), Pastor Meyer began the next phase of his ministerial career by becoming a pastor at Bethlehem. It’s well known that Pastors get lots of advice from church members. Let it begin with me.

One of the Meyer quotes posted at my other blog in May was the following:

[My wife and I] played another funny game, that we don’t do as much now that I’ve made it a sermon illustration, but, we used to say, “I love you” and then with that sparkle in the eye for the other person we’d say, “Oh I love you more” and then it’s like, “Okay, you want to play it that way? Game on, I love you ten times more””Oh, I love you a hundred times more.” “I love you a billion times more!””I love you infinity” And you had to stop. You can’t pull a Buzz Lightyear and say “Infinity and Beyond”. You can’t say, “I love you infinity times ten” It’s not romantic, it’s just bad math!

Now, I’ve already chided one Bethlehem pastor about a mathematical error, but it looks like I’m going to have to do it again. Pastor Jason, research is half of sermon writing! Only a cursory glance at the appropriate Wikipedia page would be sufficient in understanding that there is infinity and then there is infinity, to wit: There are more real numbers than there are integers.

So here’s this week’s tip:

Dads, if your wife ever says, “I love you infinity” in the “How Much I Love You” contest, don’t hang your head in shame, as if beaten. Rather, say, “I love you REAL NUMBER infinity!”

You win!

Last week I suggested that you don’t need to expect perfection when it comes to Bible Times with your kids, but –

Dad, if there are things you can d0 to make your Bible Times with your kids more distraction free, by all means do it*.

This may take some proactivity:

-Are there kids who need to go to the bathroom first?

– Are there young kids who could use a little children’s Bible to keep them occupied during your reading time?

– Do you allow the eating of snacks during Bible time? Have the kids get them first?

– Are there some kids who shouldn’t sit together?

– Are there other kinds of distractions you can prevent?

Then by all means, do so.

One other idea – we have  a rule that if a child must get up to get something or do something they can only do so if there are no other children up already.

* My wife is afraid that I’m going to come off as someone who thinks he’s awesome because I talk like I’ve got everything figured out. Please know that I’m aware that I don’t follow my own advice here (or anywhere) nearly enough.

Dads, when* you do a Bible study with your kids, don’t expect perfection. Don’t call it a failure if you’re interrupted when a little fight breaks out between kids, or by someone having to go to the bathroom, or if someone really really wanting to sit with their stuffed walrus Frederick, or a child is saying they’re starving or by a child who doesn’t understand what you’re talking about and needs to have it explained, or by your three year old exclaims, “she’s looking at me!”, or when the conversation is sidetracked as they ask why the prodigal son didn’t figure out sooner that he needed to go home.

Because in this case, a lack of perfection is certain to happen occasionally (or even most of the time). And if you feel like you’ve failed every time it’s not perfect you will get discouraged and be tempted to stop trying. And if you give into that temptation it really will be failure.

* If you aren’t doing some kind of Bible study with your kids, then start. Today.

Dads, Are you at a Fast Food Restaurant? With your kids? Do you have  an extra 10 minutes? Is the weather nice?

Then get your city map book*, find the nearest park and go on a picnic there. Extra points if the park has a play ground

*What’s that you say – you don’t have a city map book? (Here’s the bonus tip:) Get one!

Dads, encourage your friends to not say bad stuff about their wife.

One way to do this is to challenge their complaints. Being forced to be completely accurate often makes one realize that what they are describing isn’t really that bad/sinful/foolish.

As hinted over at my other blog: One of the benefits of living in a family is they can (and will) point out which of the things you do are annoying.

As father, you should (1) make sure this happens, and (2) make sure it happens with Grace and Love.

Dads, ask your son or daughter to tell you what they think the Gospel is. Ask for clarification when they are vague, encourage them where they have it right and correct them where they don’t.

Dads, have you told your kids about the Gospel this week?