Have You Seen My Daddy?

Have you seen my Daddy?

Illus. By Guy Glass

A guy drives into a ditch, but luckily, a farmer is there to help. He hitches his horse, Buddy, up to the car and yells, "Pull, Nellie, pull!" Buddy doesn’t move.

"Pull, Buster, pull!" Buddy doesn’t budge.

"Pull, Coco, pull!" Nothing.

Then the farmer says, "Pull, Buddy, pull!" And the horse drags the car out of the ditch.

Curious, the motorist asks the farmer why he kept calling his horse by the wrong name. "Buddy’s blind," said the farmer. "And if he thought he was the only one pulling, he wouldn’t even try."

I can remember my dad, pulling me out of a few ditches in my life. Some of them were literal ditches, and some of them had different names.

I can remember, my dad would call and the first thing he would say would be, "Dad here" at the time I would think of course you're there, and I'm here. But over the years, I came to realize that, when he said those words...it gave me comfort, knowing I could call anytime and he would come running to help me, no matter what the need was!

I could sense his presence was there, even though physically he wasn't.

So many fathers nowadays, aren't that way.

Proverbs 22:6 NKJ

Train up a child in the way he should go,

And when he is old he will not depart from it.

MSG. Point your kids in the right direction,

when they're old they won't be lost.

While this holds true for both parents, its especially true for fathers.

In the culture and times we live in, fathers don't and haven't played the role they once played in the family. And as we look around at society and the way things are going in the world, you can certainly see the results that have been reaped!

Maybe it's just me, but does it seam as though kids are a lot more rebellious these days, than we were, when we were kids?

Fathers are suppose to be the spiritual leaders of the home, that should be the fathers number one priority, and yet a large percentage fail to understand how important the benefit of a Christian heritage is.

What about putting food on the table and a roof over their head? When you become the spiritual leader of your household, everything else will fall into place! All of God's blessings will be unlocked, for everyone's benefit, to be learned about, experienced and enjoyed!

The devil has been hard at work attacking fathers all across the globe, for thousands of years,

Because he knows the word, he knows the significance of the word

and the significance of something that God instructs us to do.

Ill. Researchers from Switzerland examined whether parents’ religious habits were transmitted to their offspring.

They studied different variables, but one critical factor towered above the rest:

the practices of the father determine whether children grow up attending church or not.

And the results were somewhat shocking: the habits of the mother had almost no influence over their kids’ future devotion.

Consider these findings:

....When Mom goes to church regularly but Dad goes infrequently,

just 3 percent of their kids go on to become regular churchgoers.

....When Mom is regular but Dad never attends, just 2 percent become regular attendees.

Now, let’s flip the scenario, what if Dad is faithful?

When both Mom and Dad attend church regularly, 33 percent of kids grow up to attend regularly.

When Dad is regular but Mom only goes once in a while, the figure jumps to 38 percent.

Here’s the real bombshell: when Dad is faithful but Mom never attends,

44 percent of the kids end up as regular church attendees!

Bottom line: in spiritual matters, kids take their cues from Dad.

If daddy doesn’t go to church, chances are very slim that his children will become regular worshippers.

If the kids see religion as "Mom’s thing" they are more likely to become disenchanted.

But if Dad leads by example, children are twenty-two times more likely to become lifelong churchgoers

Are there exceptions, everyone knows there are always exceptions to every rule.

I stand here today as an exception, one of the 2 Percent group. I also credit a praying mother, who stood on and received the promise of her household, from God! It didn't happen in her lifetime, but never the less happened, and God kept His Word!

It's no wonder why churches all over the globe are closing their doors, and are dropping in attendance.

Dads aren't going, so why should the children. Fathers are supposed to be the spiritual leaders of their households. If we're ever going to see revival in our church's, it's going to have to first start in our homes!