Month: June 2009 (Page 2 of 4)

i think jj’s first fathers day was a success. he got a power tool that could cut off an extremity, lunch out and enough peace to get a paper finished. he said it was good :).

of course i’ve always participated in fathers day, but now that i’m celebrating the father of my child it has a different feel. i was struck by a blog post by don miller appreciating dads for, well… being a dad. he grew up without one and is pretty vocal about the effects it had on him as a child as well as now as an adult. he even wrote a book about about it (though I have not read it, but i loved blue like jazz and his general approach to most everything).

i had never given much thought to a group of people who god takes special interest in – the fatherless. i did some reading up on it today in deuteronomy and it’s quite clear that those without providing men in their lives (widows and orphans) have a special place in God’s heart, along with the stranger or alien (soapbox: which i believe should inform one of the controversial politics of today).

i can’t imagine growing up without a dad. honestly, i’m not sure how i’d deal with being dad-less at 28. but even more so, i can’t imagine raising my son without a dad. and we’re living in an era where i’m allowed to be educated, own a house, drive a car and sign my own legal documents. in theory, i can do all the things that dads do, and there are many women in the world doing just that (my hats off: i’m not sure i could handle it all).

i did some thinking on it all this afternoon. why? why did God chose to take special interest in those who did not have an adult male in the home? the social implications of being sans penis were huge… but that still doesn’t mean God had to do something about it.

it’s knowing about these things – that God wants to be the voice for the unheard – that makes me want to put my faith in action in new ways. if God had such compassion for these women and children, why don’t i? when you get down to it, it’s God’s character that gives him such concern – to use church words, that he is just and compassionate. and if i’m trying to live a life reflective of God, shouldn’t i be just and compassionate, or at least try to be?

and i do wonder, what would the world be like if all the daddies in the world would man up and be daddies? what social issues would we likely not be arguing over? abortion, welfare abuse, poverty… surely having a dad who lives like a dad doesn’t make things perfect by any stretch, but if everyone felt loved and protected and provided for (as i did growing up), couldn’t that change things?

just a thought.

Reading Richard Foster’s “devotional classics” and he shares some writings from Lord William Temple about “christian principles” in the social life. i dig it.

“if Christianity is true at all, it s a truth of universal application; all things should be done in the Christian spirit and in accordance with Christian principles*.
‘Then,’ say those who want reform, ‘produce your Christian solution for unemployment.’ but there neither is nor could be such a thing. The Christian faith does not by itself enable its members to see how a vast number of people within an intricate economic system will be affected by a particular economic or political idea.
‘In that case’ say those who want to uphold the status quo, ‘keep off the turf! By your own confession you are out of place here.’ Here the Church must reply, ‘No; I cannot tell you what is the remedy. But I can tell you that a society with chronic unemployment is a diseased society. If you are not doing all you can to find the remedy, you are guilty before God.’
the Church is likely to be attacked from both sides if it does its duty. It will be told that it has become ‘political’ when in fact it has merely stated its principles and pointed out when they have been breached. The Church will be told by advocates of particular policies that it is futile because it does not support theirs. If the Church is faithful to its commission, it will ignore both sets of complaints and continue as far as it can to influence all citizens and permeate all parties.”

*according to Foster the principles are: the supremacy of the law of love, the reality of original sin (to which i enjoy temple’s thoughts as well), the infinite value of all human life.