A Model Father

I grew up going to church every Sunday. My dad was involved in church leadership my entire life. Many of our “family nights” were at the church cleaning the building or doing something around the church. Our lives revolved around the church schedule. I did not look at that as a bad thing. My best friends were at church and I wanted to be around them. My church family was like an extension of my family. We often spent time in each other’s homes to share a meal, play games, and enjoy being together.

Growing up in the church did not mean we took our faith for granted. My dad made sure of that. He was always studying and growing his faith. He loved to study the scientific and historical evidence that supports the truth of the Bible and a created world and he would often share that with us. He studied the Bible daily. It was not uncommon for me to get up in the middle of the night when I was young and find my dad at the dining table with his Bible and several other books and periodicals opened up, researching and writing. My dad was invited to speak at a few Bible workshops and has had several articles published in a couple of small Christian publications. He loved to teach.

His love for teaching carried over to his family. I credit my dad for my love for writing and research. I loved his teaching style. When you would ask my dad a question, he would most often respond with another question. Despite all of his study and research, my dad did not like to tell anyone what they should think or believe. He would present the information and you had to decide for yourself. My dad did not just study one side of an argument to support his opinion. He studied several sides of an argument to support the truth, and sometimes his opinion was wrong. He studied to learn, not to prove himself to be right. He taught me to study to learn and be open and willing to explore and be willing to admit when I am wrong.

That is a hard thing for me. I don’t like to be wrong, though I am often. I tend to read and study to prove my point, rather than learn something. In so many ways, I wish I were more like my dad.

My dad was not a highly educated man. He had to drop out of high school to help support the family when his dad got sick. But he always continued his education, and attended Bible school, and continued with night classes at a local college to grow and develop his career as a land surveyor. He was highly regarded in both his career and the community. He was an avid reader. After he retired, he found a Jewish Rabi and studied Hebrew. He always had a large library of books and had read every one of them, at least once.

We often visited churches from different backgrounds and faiths. After church, we would talk about what we liked and what we didn’t like about the experience. I don’t remember him ever telling us that another church was wrong. We did not have regular family Bible studies. When someone had a question, we would all sit and discuss it. In my dad’s typical fashion, we would talk about different opinions and present information around the topic and we would have to come to our own decision. He taught us how to be critical thinkers. To take the data, analyze it, and come to a decision on our own. He taught us to look at as much of the data and research as we could find and that our preconceived ideas may not be correct.

I credit my dad for who I am today. He was not a perfect man, of course, but in many ways, I wish I were more like him. The most important thing he did was to instill in me that I was not to follow him. Instead, I was to strive to be more like God, our heavenly father. That is how he lived his life. Always reading. Always learning. Always striveing for his life to be a reflection of Christ.

Happy father’s day. I miss you, dad.