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The Pastor's Place. For Pastors and their families.Father's Day and Free Will
by Linda Mae Baldwin (Linda's bio)
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The daughter of a Professional Wrestler, (yep, the stuff you see on television), I was raised by a father who was bigger than life. Dad was, especially in the last years of his career, always a 'good' guy, for which I am grateful. I cannot imagine having a villainous father.
His ring persona was 'Irish Paddy Ryan.' His ring attire consisted of a kelly green Tarzan-style trunk set with a white leather clover sewn in the corner, a pair of dyed green wrestling boots and on occasion he might wear one of two ring jackets. (He also had a ring sombrero. (I know, I don't understand either.) ) A shillelagh, a highly lacquered hammer shaped stick was his 'Irish justice.'
When he wrestled close to home, we were able to attend and watch him. Those times were always an emotional roller coaster for me. Most often though, when dad wrestled at bigger venues, far from home, like Madison Square Garden, we watched on T.V.
There is a photograph of me, fourteen years old, on the deck of our rental home, holding a custom made t-shirt I designed for dad's Father Day gift. On the front of the yellow t-shirt is a likeness of the ultimate comic book hero – Superman, set between two words. Above Superman's head is the word, Super and under his feet, the word Dad.
One of the most difficult realizations for me was the day I learned he was a mere human. Dad possessed the one trait that fells the best of men – free will. Dad's free will led him to make unsavory choices, resulting in injury to his physical body and his relationship with his family. Fortunately, this same free will listened to the Holy Spirit and led Dad to give his life to Christ. When we received the late night phone call informing us dad's heart ruptured, I became very angry with him. He was Super Dad! Flawed? Sure! Yet, invincible, or so I thought.
I have closely observed two other fathers. My husband is a wonderful father to our two grown children. When the children were young, Lance spent much time away from the family earning his college degree, and working two, sometimes three jobs. Yet, he managed to remain involved and aware of what they were doing. Now, we are established and Lance is finding great joy in being a granddad to two wonderful boys.
Our son-in-law Ed, is the other dad I've recently observed. It is a joy to watch him with his boys. A hands-on father he changes diapers, rocks, plays, and feeds, things a father should do, yet rarely do we see them. As wonderful as these two men are, and strive to be, they too possess that elusive betraying free will. And, when they choose the wrong thing, go the wrong way, say the wrong words, or behave in a wrong manner, the action hurts themselves and their families.
When Lance was a full time pastor, he was considered, as I am sure many of you are, the 'father' of the church. I could tell much about a person and their family relationships by the way they treated Lance. Their free will often caused very harmful behavior: either inappropriate devotion and adoration, or equally destructive actions and tearing down of the pastor. It took years, but I finally figured out the incorrect behavior was not personal. These people will treat any authoritative 'father' figure this way, until they are trained otherwise.
Fortunately, our greatest Father - God, has a divine free will. He WAS at the beginning of everything. He is NOT now in fragile human form. He is not sick, tired, nor will He die. He is no respecter of gender, race, sex, or status. He is not bound by time. He is invincible. We can rest in the comfort and hope of knowing He will never take an inappropriate action, say the wrong words or cause His children hurt. God's Father love is pure, impartial, and strong. He is the ultimate SUPER DAD. (Psalm 68:5) He loves us enough to grant us time with earthly men – in my case my dad and my husband, who have been true blessings in my earthly life. And, because of these experiences, I eagerly look to the day when my heavenly Father embraces me.
This Father's Day, remember those in your congregation who may have a troublesome relationship with earthly dads. Perhaps they have been less than supportive of your ministry. Do not take it personally, they don't know any other way. Maybe this Father's Day you can help them see a father figure in a new light. Which may lead them to a fresh relationship with their heavenly Father (Roman's 8:15).
Thank you for your service to God's people. For being a good congregational father even in times of stress and hardship and for hanging in when times are so difficult. If you have children of your own, my wish for you this Dad's day is pure joy, love and laughter.
God Bless you.
A few examples of awesome devout Bible dads:
Abraham: Genesis 18:19
Isaac: Genesis 27:26,27
Manoah: Judges 13:8
David: 1 King 2:1-4
Zechariah: Luke 1:67
Job: Job 1-5
Prodigal's father: Luke 15:20
Copyright 2002, Linda Mae Baldwin. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
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About Linda Mae Baldwin: Linda Mae Baldwin has ministered in churches in various capacities since 1983, when her husband answered the call to the Pastorate. The author of various plays, inspirational readings, and short stories, she currently also writes reviews for the iUniverse.com CWWC site. Although no longer in vocational ministry, Linda Mae's heart is to minister to pastors, their wives and children. E-mail Linda Mae |
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