Reflections from Father's Day

Father's Day 2012 was a great day.  It started Sunday morning with our Resolution Sunday as we witnessed over 50 men here at Gaylord E-Free Church make a public resolution to be a man of spiritual courage.  What a moving service it was - one that will go down as one of the best church services that I have ever been part of and one that I believe has the potential to change our church forever.

It was also a day that I could to spend the afternoon with my family (wife, daughter and son) - just the four of us.  We are at the stage of life where I realize that this may be the last time that we spend Father's Day - just the four of us.  Here is what our day included:

A stop on the way out of town for lunch at KFC (paid for by my wife...Yeah!)!

Strolling downtown Traverse City and a good cup of coffee!

A drive up to Mission Point Lighthouse!  

A cookout on the beach at Grand Traverse Bay!

A new pair of tennis shoes and a couple of shirts as Father's Day gifts!

Miniature Gold (also paid for by my wife...YEAH!  But lost to my daughter...BOO!)!

A Dairy Queen Blizzard (paid for by my son...YEAH!)!

But as I reflect on Father's Day I have to reflect on my kids.  I could not be any more proud of my kids.  Joy has now graduated from the Liberty with her Elementary Education degree and has now attained her first job in teaching.  And best of all - that position is right here in Gaylord, Michigan.  When we moved to Northern Michigan a little over a year ago we realized that there was a very real possibility that our kids would end up living far from us.  We understand that.  For the 25 years we have been married we have never lived within 1,000 miles of either set of parents.  But we had no problem revealing to God the desire of our hearts for her to be close geographically as we prayed for Joy and her future.  And in the goodness of God, Joy will be living up here in beautiful rural northern Michigan (at least for now).

Jonathan will be heading back to Liberty University this August to start his Junior year as a Worship Arts Major.  His heart and desire continues to grow daily to be able to led people in connecting with God through worship.  I love watching my son lead worship.  All summer long we will be able to hear his guitar filling our house.  I am also amazed at the depth of the songs he writes.  I know that as his father I am a bit biased - but I really think each of them are pretty amazing.

So Father's Day may be about "DAD's" but the truth is that it is really about KIDS.  I mean, what's a dad without kids?  And having the kids I do makes Father's Day pretty perfect!