Happy Father’s Day!


In 1909, Mrs. John B. Dodd, of Spokane Washington, first proposed the idea of a “father’s day”. Mrs. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. William Smart, a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife died in childbirth with their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise all his children alone on a rural farm in eastern Washington state.

The first Father’s Day was observed on June 19, 1910 in Spokane Washington. Mrs. Dodd wanted Father’s Day to be celebrated on the first Sunday in June, her father’s birthday. However, the Spokane council couldn’t get the resolution through the first reading until the third Sunday in June. At about the same time in various towns and cities across American other people were beginning to celebrate a “father’s day.” In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father’s Day. Finally in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father’s Day.

The white or red rose is the official flower for Father’s Day. Mrs. Dodd suggested that people wear a white rose to honor a father who was deceased and a red rose for a father who was living.

THANKS, DAD!

 
Luke 15:11-15:31On the back of our “Father of the Year” bulletin at First United Methodist Church this morning it says this:
Studies show that if the mother of a family attends worship, there’s a 16 percent chance that the rest of the family will also attend.

Yet when the Father attends worship, there’s a 93% chance that other family members will be present, too.

Dads, think of the clout that you have, not to mention the responsibility!

Our example this morning was the Father in our Scripture and he is a Perfect Father because the Father in this parable is God our Father

We looked at 5 characteristics of this father as revealed in Luke 15:11-31. 
1.  HE PROVIDED FOR THE BASIC NEEDS OF HIS FAMILY
Paul writes in 1 Timothy 5:8, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, & especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith & is worse than an unbeliever.”
The latest figures I have indicate that if you’re in the average family it costs you about $300,000 from birth to 18 years old to raise a child. 

2. HE WAS GENEROUS BEYOND WHAT COULD REASONABLY BE EXPECTED

Erma Bombeck wrote this about her dad:
 

 

“My Daddy just didn’t know how to show love. It was Mom who held the family together. He just went to work every day & when he came home she had a list of sins we’d committed, & he would give us what-for about them.I broke my leg once on a swing set. It was Mom who held me in her arms all the way to the hospital. Dad pulled the car right up to the emergency door & when they asked him to move it because the space was reserved for emergency vehicles, he shouted, “What do you think this is, a tour bus?” Mom carried me in while Dad parked the car. It seems all my life Dad was parking the car someplace, coming in wet & half-frozen.

Dad was always sort of out of place. At birthday parties he just busied himself blowing up balloons, setting up tables & running errands. But it was Mom who carried the cake with the candles on it for me to blow out.

I remember when Mom told him to teach me how to ride a bicycle. I told him not to let go, but he said it was time. So I fell, & Mom ran to pick me up. But he waved her off. I was so mad that I showed him. I got right back on that bike & rode it by myself. He didn’t even feel embarrassed. He just smiled.

When I went off to college he was just fiddling with the luggage & the boxes. It was Mom who sat down & said that everything would be all right. She did all the writing. He just sent checks & a little note about how great his lawn looked now that I wasn’t playing football on it. . . .

When I got married it was Mom who got choked up & cried, & Dad just blew his nose loudly & left the room.

All my life he kept saying, “What are you doing? What time are you going to be home? Do you have gas in the car? Who’s going to be there? No, you can’t go.” Not Mom, she just loved me. But Daddy, he just didn’t seem to know how to show love – unless, is it possible that he was showing it all along, & I just didn’t recognize it?

3. HE GAVE HIS SONS SPACE WHEN IT WAS APPROPRIATE
 

 

5. HE LOVED HIS SONS EQUALLY, EVEN THOUGH HE HANDLED THEM DIFFERENTLY

God our Father has taken care of our needs.

 

He is generous beyond expectations.

He has given us Space and Freedom to be our own selves.

He has forgiven us over & over again.

And He loves us all equally, even though we are very different.

I’m thankful that I have a heavenly Father like that.

Ronnie

 

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