A Tribute To My Dad

I'm probably writing this because I'm not able to talk with my Dad on this Father's Day. He is serving the Lord, by mentoring Christians in prayer, on the other side of the world. My Dad is my hero. Let me explain.

Growing up as a pastor's kid, my Dad had many demands on his time. He had sermons to prepare and preach, elder meetings to attend, visits to the hospital, counseling appointments, outside speaking engagements and countless other church needs that pulled for his attention. Even with all of this, he prioritized time with his family. Not only did he prioritize time with us, but he told and showed us that we (his family) were the most important people in his life.

My Dad led me to our Heavenly Father. From as far back as I can remember, my Dad taught our family the Bible and had us praying for specific requests. I can remember learning Psalm 1 in the third grade. Our family was on summer vacation in Maine. My Dad and I went fishing by canoe out in a lake and parked at a secluded island. It was there that we opened God's Word and memorized it together. I learned from watching my Dad get excited about the Word. I remember my Dad introducing the little red book of prayer to our family at supper time. We recorded the prayers we prayed and then went back and recorded how we saw the Lord work. God used this practice to grow my faith as we logged many answers to prayer. My Dad modeled a consistent love for Jesus.

My Dad spent time with me. I never felt as if my Dad was too busy for me. I loved the time my Dad spent playing sports with me. I remember as a kid, Dad taught me how to run about 10 different patterns as wide receiver in football while he played quarterback. Guess who would take over the neighborhood football games? You got that right. Dad and I connected for more touchdowns than Montana and Rice. I pitched a couple seasons in little league baseball and guess who was my catcher when I practiced? There were several baseball games that I started the game thinking that my Dad was in a meeting at church, and then I would look over to the stands and see him sitting there. He showed up and was there for me. As a young adult, I began to get into golf. Up until this point, we couldn't stand golf. I started to really enjoy the sport. Instead of boycotting my new interest, my Dad saw it as an opportunity to spend time with his son. He signed up for swing lessons to become a better golfer. Since then, we have golfed together on more courses than I can count, playing golf in Scotland, Hawaii, Utah, Michigan and in other states where we have lived. Golf has been a platform for us to share life together.

My Dad loves my Mom. This was the best example for me as a child. Little did I know how important it was for my Dad to love my Mom as much as he did. I realize now why that was so important. He was showing me what marriage looked like. He modeled commitment, devotion and sacrifice in leading and loving my Mom.

My Dad is a source of wisdom. God has given my Dad much discernment. This has been a blessing for me especially since leaving home. Whenever I have faced and prayed through decisions, I have always enjoyed hearing my Dad's perspective. He knows how to cut away the fat and get to the heart of the issue. I trust his advice because I know it comes out of his deep relationship with God.

Dad, thank you for leading me. Thank you for spending time with me. Thank you for being my mentor, golf buddy, coach and friend.  I am the Dad that I am today partly because of your example and the rest because of God's work in me. I love you Dad.

The List

Last Friday night, I took my oldest son down to a Twins game against the Astros. It is a major occasion for us to watch the Twins because it takes three hours to drive from our house to the parking lot at the stadium. The reason we were excited to see the Astros play was because a friend of our family is one of their starting pitchers.

Shortly after finding our seats in left field, Allan and I realized this wasn't going to be just another professional baseball game, as if we needed another excuse to get excited about being there. During batting practice, our friend, Collin McHugh was walking with several other pitchers to left field to shag balls hit out there. When I recognized him, I yelled his name to get his attention. He looked over and I called out my name. So he ran over to talk briefly as I leaned over the center field wall to say hi. I told him, I wish I could get down (to the warning track) to talk to him. It was a little awkward with so many fans watching and wondering what our connection was. He told me that he would put my name on the family list so that Allan and I could make our way down to the locker room after the game. Then he left to retrieve fly balls.

Allan and I looked at each other in disbelief. Did he just say he was writing us on the family list? Were we going to be able to go down to the player's tunnel? I thought to myself, I wonder how many fans here tonight would love to have their name written on this family list? Allan and I for a brief moment looked at each other with a smile and realized we weren't dreaming. Shortly after we came to the realization that we heard him right, Collin caught a fly ball in the outfield and tossed it up to us. What a thrill!

Knowing we had the opportunity to go down to the locker room after the game meant we would not be leaving after the seventh or eighth inning to beat traffic or to get a head start on our journey home. What made this more difficult was the fact that the game started an hour and twenty minutes late due to a rain delay. However, there was no way we were leaving early. Allan and I even took a trip around the stadium to find the elevator that would send us down to the players tunnel just so we wouldn't get lost after the game.

The Astros got off to an early lead scoring a run in the third and fourth inning, then adding three more in the sixth. Then the Twins made it interesting at the end scoring four in the seventh and eighth. When the game was over, Allan and I quickly made our way to the elevator next to section one-twelve at Target Field. As we stood outside the elevator the operator asked us who we were. She wanted to make sure we were on the list. I introduced myself and told them what player we were with. She didn't have to look very far because there were only two names on the list. She says, wow, you would be the envy of most fans here tonight.

Two more Target Field employees and security guards checked to see who we were on our way down to the Astros locker room. Then we waited there and Collin came out with half the Astros' pitching staff. I introduced Collin to Allan and we talked and took pictures together. All of this was possible because our names were on that family list. What a special time I was able to have with my son.

As I drove home into the night and contemplated the events of the evening, and specifically being put on the player's family list, the Lord reminded me of the most important list that any of us will ever have our names on, the Lamb's book of Life. Revelation 21 talks about Heaven and verse 27 says, "Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life." The Lamb's book of life contains the names of those who have made a faith decision to believe and follow Jesus.

The Bible says in Acts 16:31, "Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." This is what needs to be done in order to have our names written on this most important list. My name is written there. Jesus is Lord of my life. When you make the decision to follow Jesus, your name is written there too and heaven awaits. When our names are written there, it not only gets you into heaven, but you will enjoy being in the presence of Jesus for all eternity. If your name is not written on the list you will be turned away and sent to the horrible alternative. Follow Jesus and join God's family list.

Idolatry in the Home

This last Sunday, I preached a message from Deuteronomy 6:4-9. In this text, Moses gives his farewell address to the people of Israel and is preparing the way for a transfer of leadership to Joshua. This is Moses' last chance to speak into the lives of those he has led for several decades. It is monumental what he says.

Moses challenges the people to love God and obey His commands. Then, he tells the people to teach these things to their children. Each of these admonitions are powerful. However, each of these are preceded by a crucial statement: "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." The reason Moses says this is because the Israelites had a history with idolatry. Idolatry is putting anything else in the place of the one true God.

In Exodus 32 we read of a sad situation when Moses was away from the Israelite camp and the Israelites began to grumble and complain because of his absence. Then, they turned to Aaron in their grumbling and said they wanted to erect a god to worship. They fell hard into idolatry. This was such a problem that God intentionally created a commandment against it. We read in Deuteronomy 5:8, "You shall not make for yourself an idol." In his farewell address, Moses wanted to remind the people to love the one true God.

In our American culture, we have allowed idolatry to creep into our lives and homes. Many who claim to have a relationship with God, sacrifice their walk and intimacy with Him to pursue other earthly attractions such as TV, music, internet, video games, food, sports, money, toys, etc. These are not bad in themselves, but they become bad as they take the place of God in our lives.

I have heard my Dad say from time to time, "Our children will run after the biggest god that they see." As parents we must rid our homes of idols. If we long to see our children walk with Jesus, we must clear the stage and allow Jesus to be the center of our homes. If our purpose, as parents, is to raise the next major league baseball player, then that will be at the center of our universe as a family. If that is the case then everything that we do will be to bow to the whims and wishes of the baseball gods.

However, if our goal is to produce followers of Jesus Christ in our homes, then we will develop a vision and execute a plan to lay a foundation for multi-generational faithfulness to the Lord. Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, "If anyone come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." If we are going to usher in the manifest presence of Christ in our homes, we must first deal with the idols, then we must schedule times of worship for our family to grow closer to Jesus. The sacrifices we will make to deny ourselves and our children the worldly distractions to focus on what matters most will result in eternal significance.