To the dads doing it right...

Happy Father's Day
as a special Father's Day treat my wife, Kiera, wrote a special post for all those dad's doing it right...

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Church is what WE do...
my husband is a pastor and I am the Early Childhood Director at the same church....
there are certain things we know about church attendance...
there are patterns and weeks that we know we will have more in attendance and weeks that there will be less...
and then we have the weeks that we have no idea why we had a ton of kids or why the classrooms were empty...

but there are 3 Sunday's that we know what to expect...
*Easter is by far the biggest Sunday ever...
*Mother's Day is usually the second busiest Sunday...
and then ...
*Father's Day Sunday the classrooms/pews are empty


early this week, on a Christian radio station, I heard a DJ talking about Father's Day at church...
He was talking about how at church on Mother's Day Sunday you hear things like'
Mom's are amazing
We couldn't do this without them
We are so grateful for all our mothers
yada yada yada...
and then on Father's Day you hear things like:
Dad's you need to step it up
we have a generation of kids without dads
our perception of God is tarnished because of all the bad dads in the world....


I was totally thinking about this today
about dads bringing...or not bringing...their kids to church on Father's day
while I walked around church doing my job,
in-and-out of classrooms seeing families and dads around campus.

Well guess what...
somethings never change...we had low numbers in the childcare today...it was slow...

but guess what else...
I saw dads today...
I saw lots of dads bringing their kids to church...
dad's who are amazing men of God that decided today...on the day our country has chosen to celebrate their roles as father's....they were going to bring their children and families to church!

So today I want to say, GO TEAM DAD....
it makes my heart soar to see the father's doing it right...
today I saw

• a young, 20 something, single dad of a 3 year old boy bring his son to church
• a first time dad volunteering at our check-in station
• another dad working with his wife as the toddler Sunday School teacher (with only 3 toddlers and 3 other adults that dad could very easy have said, "you know what, it's my day, I'm going to church, or out for coffee, you ladies look like you have it covered"...but no he stayed in the toddler room and taught those 2 yr old's that a Father is a man who will always teach them about God, no matter how young they are)
• a father that has been dealing with horrible medical issue with his wife and has faithfully been bringing his two sons to church over the past 2 months all on his own...today he was able to bring his wife to church...and rather than say, I need a day off...I deserve a day of just me (which he does!)...he brought his wife and sons to church
• a grandfather battling cancer was there preparing the morning coffee
• father's leading worship
• a dad coming for his 2nd or 3rd time with his 5 year old daughter (today his wife was not with him, not sure if she was sick or why she didn't come), but this father brought his daughter by himself to church on Father's Day
• a man, that brings children that live in his trailer park to church, stepping up and being the father/grandfather that they don't have
• a teen father in church with his son
• And many other Godly fathers

I sat in church and looked around the room, but this year I didn't see the empty chairs...I looked around at all the fathers...the men of God that are raising up this next generation.  I saw those fathers worshiping their heavenly father, opening up their Bibles and soaking up God's word...
I saw father's doing it right...
Father's that need to hear a big thank you!
as a wife to one of these amazing Godly father's I would like to stand up and say something that has been a long time in coming...
*Dad's you are amazing
*We can't do this without you (I really couldn't...)!
*We are so grateful for all our Godly father's...
*thanks for being the example!  Thanks for giving us a healthy perception of what our Heavenly Father's Love looks like!
Thanks for living out Deuteronomy 6!....
"The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."  Deuteronomy 6:4-9


On this journey with you,


Pastor Beau