Fatherhood: Leads Courageously

FATHERHOOD: LEADS COURAGEOUSLY 

As I sat down to write this post I decided to look up the meaning of the word courageous.  The definition from the Merriam Webster online dictionary is as follows, ”strength of mind to carry on in spite of danger or difficulty”.

We all remember times where we felt the fear of danger it might have been while on the roller coaster as a kid, a near miss car accident or a career choice such as firefighter, police officer or joining the military.   We also remember times of difficulty whether it was studying for a hard test in school, standing up for something you believe in when you will be challenged or taking on a challenging project.

As I write this I have the news on and there is a story of an 8 year old boy who was trapped in a house fire with his siblings.  He carried his 4 year old sister to safety and was then overcome by smoke as attempted to rescue his 6 year old brother.  He himself was rescued by firefighters and is recovering from burns at a Baltimore hospital.

In 2011 a Christian movie came to the silver screen (boy am I showing my age here) titled you guessed it “Courageous”.  In the opening scene character Nathan Hayes ran after and held onto his stolen truck as the thief tried to get away traveling at a pretty good pace.  Witnesses were saying and I paraphrase, “it’s only a truck, let it go.”   Well, for those of us that saw the movie soon learned it was much more than a truck.  Hayes infant son was asleep in the truck when it was stolen. 

Most of us are not called upon to display the acts of courage that this 8 year old boy and Nathan Hayes displayed.  However, what we must do is equally important as it shapes our children into the men and women they will become.

The courage most parents will need to exhibit is more likely to be difficult rather than dangerous.  The decisions we make will be difficult because they will be met with resistance from the very people we are shaping, our children.  Sadly, the difficulty will be increased because too many parents today abdicate their responsibilities and let their children run the show.  For any parent this is unacceptable but for the Christian parent it is even more unacceptable the bible instructs us to train our children.  In Proverbs 22:6 (ESV) we are told to “train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”    Seems pretty clear to me but many ignore this instruction.

We as parents must realize that we have a little more information about life than our children and it is our responsibility to use that information to guide them on the right path.  It will not always be easy to get them to bed at a reasonable hour, get them to church regularly, to teach them manners, help them to be healthy, responsible and moral decision making. 

We will hear “but Johnny can”….  Well, the bottom line is your not Johnny and you’re not Johnny’s father.  We cannot be influenced by the decisions other parents make.

We must be able to stand up to the crying, moaning and complaining.  The cries of “you don’t love me” or “you’re mean” must not hinder us.  We must not fall for the temper tantrums or the threats of running away.  We must stick to our guns and have the courage to make the decisions necessary to raise our children into mature, responsible, Christian adults.

While we might never be faced with saving a child from a burning building or rescue a child from a stolen car, the decisions we make will be just as courageous and as important to our children’s future.