Father's Day 2023: Father Figures Of God On Earth

My first father figure of God here on earth was my birth father. You all have heard me talk about him and what he means to me, even though he has been in heaven for fifteen years. And you have heard me talk about his brother, my uncle Robert, who went to heaven last year. Again, he was another one who showed me God in how he interacted with me and the things he taught me. When I married Nikki, I received another father figure in the form of my father-in-law, James “Pop” McClure. Nikki’s father was one of the best father-in-laws that a person could have. He was always willing to teach, give advice, and stood ready to learn. He was always aware of where the boundaries were and he would apologize quickly if he thought he had overstepped when he was giving me advice. These men all knew each other as my Uncle Robert was one of the groomsmen in Pop’s wedding and Pop also bowled in the same league as my father. Also, all three of them worked together at one time at the local hospital. So when I came a calling on Nikki, Pop already knew who I was and based on watching me at the bowling alley, he had made up his mind that it was okay for me to call on his daughter (after he initially chased me off the porch a few years before when I attempted a visit.) I grew to love Pop as my own father and he said the same to me.

Next God placed another man in my life who guided my military career for the entire time I was in the Air Force. His name was Walter McKinney and we called him by his nickname “Mac.” Our daughters called him, “Daddy Mac.” He held such an influence in my life that we asked him to be the god-father for our oldest daughter. Mac was compassionate, smart, a gifted orator and an old-time believer. He grew up in Church and we would laugh as we remembered some of the ways of the old folks. He went to heaven in in 1999 and I delivered his eulogy. It was hard because Mac was not old when he died and his death was unexpected. But to this day I still remember the advice that he gave me and the uncompromising support that he always had for me. He loved me like a father loved a son. The one thing that these four men had in common was their love for Christ. They loved God and they were not ashamed about it. And their love for God had nothing to do with what they could get from God or from people who knew they loved God.

As a pastor, I believe that all of us have the responsibility of being father figures of God here on earth, and I am not just talking about men. Any person, male or female, who participates in the leadership of a Christian Church must represent God. And, just to be clear, anyone who is a Christian, even if they are not in a leadership position, must be a father figure of God here on earth, because that is the only way the world is going to know who God is as a father. Since my birth, I have had nine pastors who I have been under. As I was preparing this message I thought about each of them and the example they put forth before the world. When I thought about how some of them lived, based on my observations, not hearsay, compared to what the Bible says, some of them did not and continue not to walk as father figures of God here on earth. Please understand, I am not being judgmental, but this assessment is based on what the Bible says about how we are to live, especially if we are in ministry and teaching others. I do have fond memories of my first pastor, Rev. Clifford D. (CD) Davis. He was my pastor when I was a child and baptized me. What made him a great pastor was his love for God. He was not the most educated man of the city when it came to Scripture, but he knew what God expected of Christians and he stood firm on what he knew. As far as I know, based on stories I have heard since being an adult, he never used the pulpit for personal gain nor did he ever mistreat the members of his congregation despite how they treated him. This cannot be said for some of the other pastors that I have been under. I wanted to mention Pastor Davis because he was an example for me of what it meant to be a pastor and actually care about your congregation.