Imperfect Fathers

IMPERFECT FATHERS

The kids wanted a hamster really bad. They pleaded with their mom, making all kinds of promises to take care of it. Finally, mom agreed and got them a hamster. They named him “Danny.” But, within two months, Mom had the responsibility of Danny’s care. Despite her encouragement, it seemed the kids had lost interest in the hamster.

She decided it was time to find a new home for Danny. She called the kids together and told them of her decision. One child said nonchalantly, “I’ll miss him. He’s been around for a long time.” Long time; it's only been two months, thought Mom. The other child pleaded, “Maybe he could stay if he ate less and wasn’t so messy.” Mom chuckled but remained firm. “No, sorry, it's time to find Danny a new home.” Suddenly the kids cried, “Danny? We thought you said Daddy.”

Dads, do you ever feel like Rodney Dangerfield, you get no respect at all? When the sports star has the camera on them what do they say? "Hi Mom". When you're home are there times when it seems like everyone's in their own little world and you wonder if anyone notices whether you're even there. If they do notice you do you wonder if anyone is listening to anything you say?

We do have a lot of dad sayings, don't we? The whole, 'when I was your age' segments. How about, 'Shut the door were you raised in a barn'? And the ever popular, 'go ask your mother'. And probably the most famous dad saying, 'money doesn't grow on trees, you know'. Although we can point to some of the predictable things dads say, how about the things that dads would never say? [Clip #1]

It's only fair that if I'm going to have a sermon on Mother's Day about imperfect mothers then I should also have a sermon on Father's Day about imperfect fathers. Just as we had those TV moms like June Cleaver, we also had their counterparts. Dads like Ward Cleaver and Mike Brady. Fathers that never lost their temper and always had all the answers. In fact, there was the show Father Knows Best. Guess what? Sometimes we don't know best; sometimes we're clueless.

With that said, certain shows nowadays portray the father as if he was totally inept; which isn't fair. But, there are some traits of those newer TV show dads that can be spot on. We can be out of touch with what's going on in the home and with the kids sometimes. We can be preoccupied with sports or hobbies.

But there can be a lot of pressure on us to try to live up to a perfect image. We're supposed to be the head of the house, know all the answers, solve all the problems. We're supposed to be Mr. Fix-It and Mr. Build-It. We have to be fearless and investigate all the scary noises. We're supposed to be Superman; that's a lot to try to live up to. Guess what? We're not going to be able to. And guess what? The dads in the bible weren't perfect either. We take a look at some examples in a little while.

1) Not so cool Dads.

Dads-remember when we were cool? In our pre-k days, (pre kids), we were able to focus more on looking cool, driving cool cars, perfecting the bod, impressing our friends, all that. We would go to all the cool hang outs and we would keep up to date with all the latest music, shows and movies. We impressed people with our new sound system, big screen TV or whatever.

But after the kiddos came that coolness started to fade. We sold the Camaro and got the minivan. Your Saturday ride is now the lawnmower, not the Harley. Instead of showing off your surround sound you're showing the neighbors the new grill. Instead of going to the clubs you're going to the playground.

But that doesn't mean we don't try to hang on to at least a sampling of coolness. I can still wear my slick shades when I'm carrying the diaper bag. I can still look tough pushing the stroller, right? We know it's not easy to see our coolness ebb away. Here are some dads that are taking it in stride and doing their best to make fatherhood look cool. [clip #2]

These guys know there are some things about the dad life that aren't that cool but they don't care-they have fun with it. That's how we need to be. Don't sweat losing your coolness-embrace the coolness of fatherhood. Who cares if people are impressed with my clothes or my beach body or my car stereo? What does my family think of me? What's more important-being cool or being a loving husband and father? I'm not saying you can't try to be both, but I should be less focused on my coolness and more focused on my dadness.