June is one of the most exciting months of the year. Summer is beginning, school year is ending, students are graduating and everyone is looking forward to vacations, family gatherings and BBQ's.We just got back from a short 4 day vacation in Branson, Missouri and we had a great time.
The 3rd Sunday in June also celebrates Father's Day. We set aside the day to thank and honor the men who helped raise us and teach us to become good, responsible, hard working, ethical citizens. Galen and I have been fortunate to have had good fathers. My father passed away in 1991 and there are times that I still miss him. He was a good, kind, hardworking person who provided for and looked after his family. I remember him always working, seldom taking any vacations, until later in life.
Unfortunately, we know that there are many, many people who struggle with memories of fathers. They have fathers who were/are abusive, alcoholics, drug addicts and/or altogether absent. The problem in our society today is that good, godly fathers are becoming less and less common. (According to some statistics 75% of men don't go to church). More and more people grow up without a father. These young men and women are in need of love, care and the direction of a father. Fortunately, along with our earthly father, we also have a Heavenly Father to turn to. Our heavenly father promises to protect us, guide us and provide for us (Psalm 23), and to never, ever leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Indeed, this is very comforting.
President Lyndon Johnson started the tradition of Father's Day in the 1960's, and President Richard Nixon made it official in 1972. However, did you know that it was a woman, Sonora Smart Dodd, who was listening to a Mother's Day sermon, that inspired her to start a special day for dads? After the sermon Dodd went up to the pastor and said: don't you think fathers should have a special day too? This was May 1909, in Spokane, Washington. Her mother had died in childbirth and her father, an Arkansas farmer, had fought for the Union during the Civil War. When his wife died, he was left with 6 children, ranging in age from 16 to newborn. He had assumed both father and mother roles, until the children were old enough to have homes of their own. Sonora Dodd circulated a petition around town and got the support of the local YMCA and other groups, and on June 19, 1910, the Protestant churches of Spokane observed their first Father's Day. The holiday spread to other states, but it didn't last too long. By the 1920's it had faded away. Later it resurfaced and by the 1960's it became more popular.
Although Father's Day is not a religious holiday, the Bible has a lot to say about fathers.
The 4th Commandment says to Honor your mother and your father. Ephesian 6:1-3 says: Children obey your parents. This is the right thing to do because God placed them in authority over you. Honor your mother and your father. This Commandment ends with a promise: that if you honor your father and mother, yours will be a long life, full of blessings. The next verse is directed to the parents." Don't keep on scolding and nagging your children, making them angry and resentful. Rather, bring them up with loving discipline the Lord himself approves, with suggestions and godly advise".
We need godly fathers who will guide and support their children, today more than ever.
God bless all the fathers with love and wisdom!
Happy Father's Day!
