the tindog coffeehouse

While I don’t have a son, I do have two young daughters, and any father of young kids can instantly relate to the lyrics of the song below, “Follow Me” by Remedy Drive. There are times when kids ask deep and complicated questions that are difficult to answer, but more often than not, they just want to spend time with their daddy.

I try to be the best father I can for my kids, and as the song says, I don’t want to let them down. In the end, I hope I will have done enough and set the right example for my kids to follow. But more importantly, I pray that they’ll keep running toward “this hope that I can’t see”, Jesus Christ.

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About a week ago, we finally got around to seeing the animated movie How To Train Your Dragon. It’s a great movie, and the kids loved it. Of course, when it first came out, I couldn’t help but to joke that it looked nothing like the book, that book being Donald Miller’s To Own A Dragon.

Interestingly, though, I think there might be some thematic similarities between the two.

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A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about defining “manhood”. I concluded that manhood couldn’t simply be reduced to biological or emotional maturation, but that it was the result of a conscious choice to take responsibility for our lives.

Newsweek, however, has a slightly different definition.

According to the liberal scribes at Newsweek, it’s time for a “New Macho”, where men are more likely to be stay-at-home dads or have jobs traditionally dominated by women such as teachers or nurses. They point to Sweden as a role model due to their mandatory paid paternity leave laws. (Never mind that Sweden has one of the highest rates of out-of-wedlock births in the world or that Swedish men are often forced to pee sitting down in order to squash their masculinity.)

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Confession: I get teary-eyed every time I hear the Jars of Clay song “Boys (Lesson One)”, a series of instructions for life from a father to his sons.

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Lesson one – do not hide
Lesson two – there are right ways to fight
And if you have questions
We can talk through the night

So you know who you are
And you know what you want
I’ve been where you’re going
And it’s not that far
It’s too far to walk
But you don’t have to run
You’ll get there in time

Lesson three – you’re not alone
Not since I saw you start breathing on your own
You can leave, you can run, this
Will still be your home

So you know who you are
And you know what you want
I’ve been where you’re going
And it’s not that far
It’s too far to walk
But you don’t have to run
You’ll get there in time
Get there in time

In time, to wonder where the days have gone
In time, to be old enough to
Wish that you were young
When good things are unraveling
Bad things come undone
You weather love and lose your innocence

There will be liars and
Thieves who take from you
Not to undermine the consequence
But you are not what you do
And when you need it most
I have a hundred reasons why I love you

If you weather love and lose your innocence
Just remember – lesson one

Happy Father’s Day!

Previously:
Defining ‘manhood’

Father’s Day may just be another holiday manufactured by the greeting card companies (and sponsored by Home Depot), but it could just be the key to ending poverty as we know it.

According to a new study by the Heritage Foundation, having a married father in the household “has the same effect in reducing poverty as adding five to six years to a parent’s education level”:

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Like a lot kids, I grew up without a father around. My parents divorced when I was six, and my dad moved out of town for work a couple of years later. I still kept in touch with him as I grew up, but it was hard not having him in my day-to-day life. I’ve struggled most of my life to figure out what it takes to be a man, what it means to be a husband and a father. And I think it’s fair to say that at some point in his life, every man wrestles with those same questions, wondering whether he’s good enough or strong enough or smart enough or whatever. The problem is, we don’t really have a good way to determine that.

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