“Duct Tape and A Clotheshanger”
Proverbs 22:6
“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”
(NIV)
Proverbs 22:6
“Teach a child to choose the right path, and when he is older, he will remain upon it.”
(TLB)
Today is the 100th anniversary of Father’s Day!
The idea of Father’s Day was conceived by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Wash., while she listened to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who was left to raise his six children by himself on a rural farm. The first Father’s Day celebration was 100 years ago today—June 19, 1910. The first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was issued in 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. Father’s Day has been celebrated annually since 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed the public law that made it permanent.
Why It’s Good To Be a Man.
10 You know stuff about tanks.
9 You can go to the bathroom without a support group.
8 If someone forgets to invite you to something he can still be your friend.
7 You can drop by to see a friend without bringing a little gift.
6 If another guy shows up at the same party in the same outfit, you might become lifelong buddies.
5 One wallet, one pair of shoes, one color, all seasons.
4 There is always a game on somewhere.
3 Your pals can be trusted never to trap you with, “So…notice anything different?”
2 If something mechanical doesn’t work, you can bash it with a hammer and throw it across the room.
1 You can do your nails with a pocketknife.
I made a post on Facebook the other day, asking people to respond about unusual habits their father may have had which made him extra special to them. Here are some of those responses:
Terry Arington
My dad used humor as discipline. Once my brother and I got into trouble and he took us into the bedroom, pulled off his belt and said, "OK, boys, let’s make this look good!" He then proceeded to beat the dust out of the mattress. It worked.
Bink Mooney
Yes. He could not pass up a trout stream without stopping and wetting a line 10 - 12 times. He did this in his suit and tie on his Insurance Route, and many times on our way home from Church. I guess that’s why my brothers and I keep rod and reel in truck 24/7 and do the same thing.
Susan Hester
Whenever my mom was in the hospital or some other reason where my dad would have to "cook dinner" he would make his "specialty" which is green beans and scrambled eggs - together....
Doug Coffman
My dad’s big toenail fell off from pitching fastpitch softball, it hurt too much to pitch without it, so he taped it back on for the next week of games. He kept it on top of his dresser.
Richard F Martin
My dad and I could travel for hours and not say a word. We would come home knowing we had had a great time. My mother always asked what we talked about. When we said "nothing" she was convinced we were holding out on her! Just being together was priceless
Speaking of travel, Linnea Bohannon said:
My dad always took the "scenic route", anytime we went somewhere w/ him!! It was always a lot of fun, because we stopped @ many relatives homes on the way home. Family friends were often included in our car trips!! People seldom do that anymore!!! I sure did get to see a lot of my relatives & family friends doing that!!! And, @ every stop, we ate something- whether it was a snack, or a meal- we never went away hungry. Everyone enjoyed our visits, & we never called ahead to tell them- we just showed up!!!
Karen Jaynes
My dad put duct tape on everything and sprayed WD40 on his joints.
Some of our people also got into the act:
Brenda Lock Darr
He always carried around a fork in his pocket & anytime anyone would eat anything, he would get out his fork & say: "you know what I learned today?....sharing:" & he would dig in.
Stephanie Myers Sipes
When I graduated from college my dad gave me an entire hand written spreadsheet (he couldn’t use a computer) detailing the value of compound interest and investing my earnings as soon as I got a job. I still have the spreadsheet
Linda Mace
Growing up, my dad worked 2nd shift at CAT. For whatever reason he would bring a piece of gum home each night for me. Every day as he was leaving I would tell him "don’t forget the gum!"
Becky Davis
My daddy has ALWAYS been special to me.
Gail Woulfe
My dad was scared to death of mice, so whenever he would have to go to the shed to get the riding lawnmower out he would have my mom do it in case there would any mice building nests in the lawnmower.
Karen Williams
My dad just gave Laura these points to live her life by:
adapt, overcome, improvise, remain flexible, think ahead, never be late, and trust in Him...and of course, because he is grandpa, there is a monetary reward for being able to recite them to him every time he sees her! (Karen also says that he was/is a firm believer in duct tape...it comes in clear and other colors now....)
My dad was a great fix-it man. As long as he had 2 tools, he could fix anything! Those two tools were DUCT TAPE and A CLOTHESHANGER! Actually, my dad was using an adhesive device long before DUCT TAPE was ever considered for anything but heating and air-conditioning. Back when heating came from the coal or oil furnace and air-conditioning meant a fan in the window sill of an open window, my dad could repair nearly anything with MASKING TAPE. When the top of the cabinet came loose, he fixed it with masking tape. Screen door have a hole? Cover it with masking tape. If it is the front screen door, use scotch tape, the transparent kind! Carpet worn at the seam? Hold it together with tape. And the more you put on, the better it will be! If the tape-covered carpet gets to bulgy, cover the bulge with a throw rug! Or a plastic carpet runner.
If what needed to be fixed was too pulled apart for tape to mend it, the coat hanger came out. Just unravel it, run in through the separate pieces, and twist it back together. It you have a pair of pliers or a hammer and screwdriver, you can take off any excess clotheshanger, cover the whole thing with tape, and everyone will think you are the greatest handyman in the world! I’ve seen a clotheshanger used as a car muffler strap, a door lock, a drawer handle, a hinge, and a key.
That was the way my dad fixed things. Masking tape and clotheshangers. Then he discovered duct tape! Duct tape was much stronger, and mostly impervious to heat, cold, and humidity. With duct tape you could handle the really tough jobs, like rust holes on the body of your car or roofing shingle repairs. A little duct tape and the right color spray paint and those holes nearly disappeared. Duct tape could be used around leaky doors and windows, leaky faucets, and loose linoleum. My dad even repaired furniture and clothing with aluminum-colored duct tape. He never graduated to the fancy-colored stuff.
Someday scientists will discover that the whole world is really held together by duct tape!
In reality the Scripture tells us:
Colossians 1:17
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
(NIV)
Too bad that life’s real messes can’t be repaired that easily. The strongest duct tape won’t mend a heart that’s been broken. There is no way to patch up the hole that is left when dad leaves the home.
Children’s Ministry Magazine reports that
• Half of all American children will witness the breakup of their parents’ marriage.
• 10-20% of children are at risk of exposure to domestic violence.
• More than 500,000 American children are currently in foster care.
There is a concerted attack on the institution of fatherhood by Satan himself. Time magazine, in an issue called, “The Hottest Jobs of the Future,” lists fatherhood as one of the occupations that will disappear within this century. This is what the article says: “Between in-vitro fertilization and cloning, dads could become dinosaurs.” (5/22/00)
The Devil’s work is to influence dads to be disconnected, distant, or even abusive, so that children start life believing that this is how all fathers are—even a heavenly Father.
And why attack the father? You’ve heard it said that fathers are the spiritual leaders of the home. Now there’s a study to prove it.
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 here’s the shocker: 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 attenders.
Now, let’s flip the chart. 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 attenders!
Bottom line: in spiritual matters, kids take their cues from Dad. If Papa 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.
The greatest, most powerful truth that any person who does not know Christ needs to hear in order to be saved is this: God is a good Father whose desire and plan is to bring back his lost children to himself. Satan knows that good fathers can pave the way for the gospel and, conversely, bad or absent fathers pave the way to separation from God.
Two passages of Scripture bear out wonderful promises for Fathers:
Exodus 20:4-6
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments. (NIV)
Proverbs 3:33
33 The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous. (NIV)
Dads, we need to get back to our intended purpose: raising our kids in the way they should go so that when they are older they will not depart from the way they have been raised!
How do we do that? Duct tape and a Clothes hanger!
What is the intended use of DUCT Tape? Seal the seams of the ducts so that what is inside doesn’t leak out. You can use duct tape for a thousand other uses but it was made to keep what is inside on the inside.
How do we make sure that the good things we put into our kids remain?
Deuteronomy 6:6-9
“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon 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.”
(NIV)
You want your children to grow up and live right? You live right! Kids need one thing: to see their fathers following Jesus. You want the things you have taught your children to stick? You live that way every day!
Deuteronomy 6:6
“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.”
If it is on your heart to live for Jesus, if you will live for Him everyday, your children will have a far better chance of living for Jesus. What they see in Dad, they will do! Make God YOUR Heavenly Father, Dads, and your children will be drawn to him as well!
What is the intended use of the clotheshanger? Hang clothes!
How do we hang into the closets of our children’s lives the things they need to know?
Deuteronomy 6:7-9
“Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.”
(The Message)
You cannot hang things into the closets of your children’s lives long-distance. You have to be present, “to be there” for your children by being where your children are!
A man came home from work late again, tired and irritated. He found his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door. “Daddy, may I ask you a question?”
The dad replied: “Yeah, sure, what is it?”
“Daddy, how much money do you make an hour?”
The dad got mad and said, “That’s none of your business! Why do you want to know?”
The little boy said, “I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?”
The dad, wanting to sit down and relax, said, “If you must know, I make $20 an hour.”
The little boy sighed and bowed his head. Looking up, he asked, “Daddy, may I borrow $10 please?”
The father flew off the handle, “If the only reason you wanted to know how much money I make is so that you can hit me up for some cash to buy some stupid toy, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. You’re so selfish. I work long, hard hours every day and don’t have time for this.”
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.
The dad sat down and started to get even madder about the nerve of his little boy. How dare he ask questions only to get some money. After an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think that maybe he was a bit hard on his boy. Maybe his son really needed the money for something important. And so, the father went up to his boy’s room and opened it, “Are you asleep, son?”
“No daddy. I’m awake,” replied the boy.
“I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier. It’s been a long day, and I took it out on you. Here’s that 10 bucks you asked for.”
The little boy sat straight up, beaming. “Oh, thank you, daddy!” he exclaimed. Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulled out a wad of crumpled up bills.
The dad, seeing that the boy already had some money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his dad.
The dad, now ticked off, demanded to know what was going on, “Why did you want more money if you already had some?”
The little boy replied, “Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do. Daddy, I have $20 now…and I’d like to buy an hour of your time.”
What are you hanging in the closets of your children’s lives? Whatever you hang there, they will find. Whatever is hung in their closet will become a part of their lives.
How long will it take, Dad, for you to take hold of the responsibility of hanging the right things into your kid’s closet and making sure those things still by the re-enforcement of your own life?
