Hey Dads!

In one of my favorite movies, It's a Wonderful Life, there is a powerful scene that reminds us of the influence fathers have (or should have) in the lives of their children. Young George Baily worked after school at the town's drug store. He had just been given a prescription to deliver. But George hesitated. A he voiced an objection about doing so, Mr. Gower, the druggist, slapped him on the side of the head for what he considered a rebellious attitude. The druggist told young George in no uncertain terms to get going and make the delivery as he was told to do. George reluctantly left the store. Why did George resist going? It was due to the fact that he had noticed Mr. Gower had put poison in the tablets (and this he did because he was drunk with both alcohol and grief, having just been informed that his son had died of the flu while on the front lines in France during WWI). So now George was in a quandry. What should he do? As he walked out of the store, he looked up the street. A large billboard caught his eye. On it were the words, "Ask Dad. He knows."  So off George went to ask his dad just what he should do (And if you have seen the movie, you know his dad was busy in a meeting. So George wandered about town before finally going back to the store where he told Mr. Cowper the truth. And Mr. Cowper was forever grateful to George for catching that potentially fatal mistake!).

Ask Dad. Unfortunately for many children and young adults, they can't ask dad because either dad is no longer in their lives or if he is, he is just too busy with other things to be bothered. And that is indeed unfortunate. In their recent book, Souls in Transition: The Religious & Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults, authors Christian Smith and Patricia Snell talk about the powerful influence mothers and FATHERS have on the spiritual lives of their kids. They write, “In the long run, who and what parents were and are for their children when it comes to religious faith are more likely to ‘stick’ with them, even into emerging adulthood, than who and what their teenage friends were.”

So you dads out there (and moms too), let me ask you? How are you involved in the lives of your kids. And what does your life say to them about the importance of faith in Christ and commitment to God's Word?

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj