Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Father (as in paternal parent, not God) (04/10/08)
-
TITLE: Who's your Daddy? | Previous Challenge Entry
By gayle jackson
04/12/08 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
I am a mom so how am I supposed to answer this? I can only go by my own dad, my sweet husband, and my grown son or maybe the many father figures that have come into our lives. Yes I can do this with the Spirit as my guide.
My dad is “the saint”; his children gave this title to him. How could anyone in his right mind put up with our Mom? She was and still is exocentric, complicated, critical, confusing and hard to love.
My spouse on the other hand didn’t really have a Dad. As he puts it he got gypped in the father department. His dad left his mom when he was in second grade. She then married an abusive drunker, went into a 20 year depression spell, divorced him and married another guy for a few years.
My husband is a great dad and step dad. He learned the hard way. I have watched him grow in our 20 years together and become the man and father I knew he could be. He passed this on to my oldest son, who is now a Daddy. He and his wife have three beautiful children and a love for Jesus that surpasses my expectations. We are so proud.
They came to us when they were first pregnant with a request. We thought something was wrong. He asked my husband if he’d mind having a special grandfather name. He had always felt bad when growing up, because he loved him so much and he didn’t call him dad.
Would he accept the name he came up with? “Pappy” said he’d be honored with tears in his eyes. Now that to me was what a father can be. A man without a dad to draw the strength, and knowledge and love from had learned with God’s intervention how to be a Daddy and now a Pappy.
Fathers traditionally get a bad rap. The bible is full of fathers that gave away birthrights, killed their own sons, committed adultery and more. But I think the thing that makes a father is when he becomes a Daddy.
A man becomes a Dad when he falls in love with his Lord and with his children. God somehow enters his heart and softens the hard core a man must have to deal with life and being the Man. Take Joseph for example, he had to have been a good Daddy. He raised Jesus to be who He was.
While the bible doesn’t tell us the whole story, Jesus would not be all that He was without having a Godly earthly father helping Him grow into a man. There had to be a reason God waited till He was in his 30’s to reveal Himself. If you believe that Jesus was a real man than He had to have had a real Daddy and maybe a Pappy too!
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
A few suggestions: This may be a bit rambling--maybe you could pick one of those men and write more in depth about him to add focus to this piece? Two red pen edits: I think you meant "eccentric" rather than "exocentric", and "Bible" is always capitalized.
Your writing shows considerable potential.