Special Post: Father's Day

Fathers As Teachers

7 “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?” ~ Hebrews 12:7

All my life I have watched my father raise his children up knowing the Lord. I have had the pleasure to see him at his best and at his complete worst; I have seen him in his victories and in his defeats; I have loved him always in all that he has faced; because I know he did all those things and made all those sacrifices not for himself, but for that of his family. I have watched how gentle he has become with his grandchildren, and now his great grand child. I have seen him be filled with love, heard him speak out against injustice, and I have seen him defend his family to the bitter end. My father taught me many different things about life, about myself, and lessons about himself, and that of his father whom was not so much around when he was a child. My father vowed to make a difference, to be a teacher even though he had no clue that he was in fact teaching us how to be honorable, respectful, honest, and loving. My dad is funny in that he has gone deaf and his responses are not quite what they would have been if he had heard what was being said to him. My father has also gone bald and I used to make fun of his lack of hair and even played with the little bit which adorned the northern most portion of his head. My father despite these two short comings endured, and was able to poke fun at himself and laugh when I made my childish jokes. As a child I loved spending time with him especially on those Saturday mornings when he would wake me up at 6am to have coffee and watch the sun come up over the trees in our backyard, it is to those memories I will always cherish. I loved going fishing with him, loved reading him my stories, loved watching “All Star Wrestling”, and I dearly loved hearing his stories of his childhood, his dreams, his mistakes, and listening faithfully to his hopes and heart breaks. My father is not the easiest man to get to know, he is not the gentlest man, nor is he the most patient man, but I love him and I am honored to be his son. My father is my favorite teacher, my favorite role-model, my favorite supporter because  he taught me how to be a real person and a real man. I know my father has endured hardship, he has made many sacrifices, for he has instilled those lessons deep within me. It is because of this teaching I have endured, I have prospered in adversity, and like him I have been strong in the face of my many hardships and heartbreaks. I know my father would not call himself a teacher, rather he looks at himself as an ordinary man who did the best he could for his family, but he is much more than that to me. It was my father who introduced me to God, who answered many of my questions about the role of God, and it was my father who taught me not to fear such things as death because God is even there with us. My father introduced me to the meaning of family for he gave me a set of grand-parents who I adored immensely. My father introduced me to life, how the  real world works, he did his best to guide me and show me how to be responsible when all I wanted to do was shrink and hide. My father pulled me up by the britches and made me stand-up and taught me that honor is everything a man is and is the only thing a man has. I would not know the things I do about car engines had it not been for my father calling me down to the garage and showing me different car parts. To this point I must say I was not at the time interested at all about engines not like my father was and I missed out on those moments because of my stubbornness and lack of tolerance for those specific lessons he tried in vain to teach. Likewise, my father never stop trying and in those moments when I was an adult I found myself so grateful for having him reteach what I should have learned when I was younger. One of the fondest memories I have is our many trips to the cabin located within the Hills of the Lake of the Ozarks, a cabin his parents build and turned into our favorite getaway. I loved hearing his points of view, and arguing about most of them. But the one moment I am to this day in awe of is how my father without warning showed me his feeling, his hurts, and he felt comfortable enough to open up to me in a way I have never seen before or since. In that experience I learned more about my father which was and had been a complete mystery for most of my life. He alone taught me that I will never stop learning, growing, evolving, and feeling. As a disciplinarian my father was the worst, for in his moments of anger at use kids I feared him, but I never stopped loving him. I always knew how far he would go and I found myself always test those boundaries and again most of the time learning things about him that I could not have ever guest otherwise. I find myself now taking up his mantle of teaching, though I have become a professional and hold two Masters in Education and have surpassed my father in this area, I still feel he is smarter and wiser than I will ever be even with my degrees. I see traits in my character that is oddly simular to his and I find myself saying things to all my children in my classroom that he had said to me when I was a child. In raising my daughter I tried my hardest because my father had tried his hardest first. I told my daughter many stories that I know she loved to hear just as my father had told  first told me. Like my father I introduced God to my daughter and tried to teach her all the many lessons my father had taught me. I hold my father up as the example of what a father should be and though I am now painfully estranged from my only child, (not by my own fault), I will never stopped trying to teach her the lessons she was not willing to take out the time with me to learn, just as my father has never stopped trying to teach me and still teaches me to this very day. In many ways I too look at myself as just a common ordinary person, (father), who is doing the best that he can, just like my dad.

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY DAD! I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!

My Dad / My Daughter / My Family

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History of Fathers Day

6 “He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” ~ Malachi 4:6

Fathers day was started by a daughter who loved her father so much she changed how America looked and treated fathers. It was the religious organizations who helped her make this a nation wide celebration, and thus it is very much rooted in the American fabric and in our religious history. With persistence fathers are now celebrated and remembered for their contribution within the American family unit. It is not to be under scored the role fathers play in the raising of their children and when all the facts are summed up, Fathers are every bit as important as Mothers.  Just as the bible proclaims it takes two to raise a child, it takes both a Mother and a Father.

I want to take this moment to wish every father around the world a wonderful Fathers Day, and I hope this day is remembered and celebrated by all families until the end of all time. For we are also celebrating our eternal father in heaven when we we celebrate our own fathers and their contribution.

FATHERS DAY CHALLENGE: I want to hear about your fathers, describe him in a couple of sentences and I will post what you have written below this challenge under the heading Your Fathers. I can’t wait to hear from all of you!

YOUR FATHERS

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Greg Brede “I would like to add many Fathers that I know that have been Parent Child Relationship Challenged by the Family Court and affiliated Officer’s of the Courts: Nicholas Haas, David Johnson, David Vandenberg, Mike Prieto, Bill Lynch, Marty Flynn, Joseph Kenick III, DrJoe Rabinovitz, Gus Breton, Tom McCarthy, Ed Bryans, Andy Scutura and many other great Dads”

Keith Marsolek “4 men have always inspired me in my life.God, Jesus, my Dad and Allan Gantt. Thank you all for who I am today.”

Diane Firestone “I thank God who has given me a father who speaks quietly, teaches me integrity, loves me unconditionally, teaches how to barter, and has rock solid, old fashioned, values. Thank You dad!”

Angie Ochoa: “Happy Fathers Day Mr. Stark”

Joseph Di Lella “My Papa was my BEST friend, my mentor, teacher and guide through the toughest times of my life. He passed only 8 years ago last Thursday, but it seems like yesterday. He is always remembered and loved . . .”

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Amen,

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Brian Keith

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God Bless,

Brian Keith

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