A New York Department Store was recently advertised as a place to shop for husbands who could be great fathers.  "If you want a husband and a good dad," the ad said, "come visit us.  We have five floors of well-qualified men you might want to marry."  Two single women on their lunch hour entered the store.  The sign at the door said that if you opened a door to one of the five floors, you could only select from the men on that floor.  And if you went on to the next floor, you couldn't go backwards - you could only leave.  The sign on the First Floor door advertised:  "Men with high paying jobs and love kids."  "Sounds good," they said to each other, "but let's see what's on the Second Floor."  There they found they could get "Men with high paying jobs, love kids, and do housework."  That sounded very good, but they were curious to know what was next, so they walked up farther.  Third Floor door sign said, "Men with high paying jobs, love kids and do housework, and are good looking."  "Wow," they said, "how much better can a guy get?"  But they just had to find out, so they went to the Fourth Floor where the sign on the door said, "Men with high paying jobs, love kids and do housework, are good looking, and are great lovers."  "If this is only the Fourth floor," they said to each other, "think what must be up farther!"  When they got to the Fifth Floor, the sign said, "Sorry - this floor has no men.  It exists only to prove that women are impossible to please."

          Well, that story should earn me a brickbat or two, but I couldn't resist telling it, especially on Father's Day.  Right now I want us all to stop for a moment and remember all our firefighters, especially the fathers who are working in the Hayman fire burning just west of us.  We give thanks for them all, for they have left family and home and have placed their lives at risk to protect and serve those in harm's way as they fight a multi-headed monster that threatens to swallow the whole Front Range.  140 square miles of timber and buildings have burned in just 8 days, and we don't know how far it will go.  Only God can stop this terrible thing, and we pray He will do it soon.  I know there are women on the fire lines too, and I give thanks for them all.  But since today is Father's Day, I'd like to give God special thanks for what they are doing to help us all.

          Let us pray:  Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for all who are fighting fires, especially the fathers.  Protect them and all who are affected.  Give them courage and stamina, wisdom and health, and bring them all safely home after the fires are out.  And thank You for protecting our members and friends in and near all the fires, in Jesus' name, Amen

          Happy Father's Day, all you Dads!  Father's Day is not that old a holiday here in America.  Sonora Dodd first had the idea of a "Father's Day" in 1909.  Her father, William Smart, was a widowed Civil War veteran who raised his six small children by himself.  After Mrs. Dodd became an adult, she realized the selflessness her father had shown her and her siblings, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington, on June 19, 1910, her deceased father's birthday.  In 1924, President Coolidge encouraged the idea of a national Father's Day, but it wasn't until 1966 that President Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father's Day all across America.  So officially, Father's Day is only 36 years old!

          It's not easy being a father today.  We give our sons more training in running a computer than in being a father.  Our young men know all there is to know about a GameBoy, but they know little about raising a real boy.  They may be taught the facts about sex, but many lack wisdom to apply them.  I live in a cul de sac where the parents are real models for their children, playing with them, doing chores with them, even crying with them.  But my neighborhood may be an exception as I hear stories every day about men -- and women -- abandoning their families for greener pastures.

          St. Paul in today's Bible text says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort..."  As far as we can tell, Paul was neither father nor husband, and yet he gives a lot of good advice to both marrieds and singles, to parents and children.  That's because Paul wasn't writing this on his own.  He was inspired by the Holy Spirit to portray God as the Good Father, the Compassionate One who does all that's necessary for His children, the Selfless One who sacrifices Himself that His children might not perish, but have everlasting life with Him forever.  This is the God we worship and praise and adore today.

          Most fathers I know have a hard time knowing how to love their children.  Part of him wishes he could keep the kids around forever to see them grow and give them advice.  But another more powerful part wishes they would soon get out of the house so he can have his wife all to himself.  There are books on fatherhood, but no manuals, and we often pass on little that's good to follow.

          What is a Good Dad?  Someone has described him thus:  "A Good Dad is someone who wants to catch you before you fall, but instead lets you fall, picks you up, brushes you off, and lets you try again.  A Good Dad is someone who wants to keep you from making mistakes, but instead lets you find your own way, even though he aches in silence when you get hurt.  A Good Dad is someone who holds you when you cry, scolds you when you break the rules, shines with pride when you succeed, and has faith in you even when you fail.  A Good Dad tries his best, but always forgives you, and knows he is forgiven by his own Good Father in heaven.

          Our country is filled with good fathers, most of whom get little credit for what they do.  They are strong, yet can be very weak;  bold, yet have frail egos.  They can have a big heart and a mighty laugh, yet weep tender tears they will rarely show.  Many Good Dads had poor role models in life, but have become as good as they are only by God's grace.

          Not all men are Good Dads.  A man recently shared with me that his own father had molested the son's three daughters and probably his brother's daughters.  He did not appear bitter against his father, just unemotional, sort of detached from his father, lest he face his true feelings and buy a gun.  His wounds were still visible as he spoke.  His question was, "How can I help my girls to know God is their loving Father when their grandfather did this to them?  They hear about a masculine God from a male pastor and they don't trust what they hear."  He said, "I really wish the Missouri Synod allowed women pastors, because I don't think my daughters will ever trust a male one."

          Now, the issue here is not theology, but practicality.  A Good Dad had discovered his own Dad wasn't good, and that he'd harmed his granddaughters.  This is terrible stuff and Paul said in our text, "He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us [again].  On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us."  Our Good Father in heaven has our good at heart, and He will settle all accounts.  He does not discipline us to punish, but to strengthen.  He does not bring us heartache without hope.  Hebrews 12:7 says, "Endure hardship as discipline;  God is treating you as sons.  For what son is not disciplined by his father?"  His ways are not our ways but they're higher, and somehow in time we will discover His ways are better than we'd have hoped for.

          Bitter and angry, Jim shared an early childhood experience with his counselor.  He told of when his Third Grade teacher asked his class to color a piece of paper that was cut out in the form of a necktie.  This would be a gift for their fathers on Father's Day.  But Jim, a bit clumsy and uncreative, messed his up quite badly;  yet, he was proud of his work.  He could not wait to give it to his father.  But on the way home, he accidentally dropped the paper tie in a mud puddle.  It was now wrinkled and spotted but still presentable.  On Father's Day he proudly presented his work of art to his father who, sadly, didn't understand.  "What!" he cried, "Am I to wear this ugly thing for Father's Day?  Are you crazy?  Who taught you how to draw?  And it's dirty, you stupid little kid!"  Young Jim ran away crying and buried this incident with many other memories of his angry and uncaring father.  In time, he became bitter and cynical, just like his Dad.

          As Jim told his story, the counselor asked, "Jim, if you had to give that necktie you made to Jesus, what would Jesus do?"  Jim thought for a moment and replied, "I suppose He would take the tie, clean it up, and put it on."  The Counselor said, "Jim, I think Jesus would put it on just the way it was;  He would be proud of it and say, 'This came from Jim, the boy I love, the one who loves me.'"  This story could have ended there, but it didn't.  You see, inspired by the compassion he saw, Jim himself became a counselor and today is helping many wounded people put their lives back together.

          Fathers all make mistakes and some of them are big.  But even through mistakes, God can show us His love.  Gratefully accepting a small Father's Day gift can change a child's life.  But we can't let the sins of another person mold our life.  It's easy to blame our troubles on the sins of someone else, but we, too, have our own faults.  We all need a Heavenly Father to forgive us and cleanse us from all sin.  God doesn't excuse sin, He removes it on the Calvary's cross, as far as the east is from the west.  He forgives thoughtless fathers and mothers and children, and gives eternal life to all who repent and believe.

          Johnny Hart, creator of the "B.C." comic strip, came to faith in Christ and began to show it in his work.  He's been criticized, often severely, for writing God into His work, but his cleverness often gets the message through.  Now and then he has "Wiley", his peg-legged protagonist, write poems.  Here's an example:  "Everybody don't all have a Father;  Some there are whose Dads have passed along.  Then there's some who couldn't give less bother To family situations woebegone.  With Dads you cannot just reach out and 'nab' one To pull the family out of its despair--  But if for some reason you don't have one, There's One on duty, all the time --up 'there'."  Thanks be to God for Good Dads, those who love us despite who we are, for they show us the face of God.  Amen

Copyright © 2002 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.