BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE
By Steve Bietz
Burke County
There is the story of a little girl’s first day at school. The teacher was making out her registration card. She asked the girl to give her father’s name. The little girl said, “His name is Daddy.” The teacher said, “Yes, I know he is your daddy, but what name does your mother call him?” The little girl looked at the teacher somewhat surprised and said, “She doesn’t call him any names, she likes him.”
This month we celebrate Father’s Day, but in over 40% of families in America, there is no father present. One out of four children born today are born in fatherless homes. I can’t help but be reminded of a speech that Joshua spoke to the Israelites that included this thought. “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)
In the 1963 Broadway musical, Bye Bye Birdie, there is a song that addresses the generational gap. The song was entitled, “What’s The Matter With Kids Today.” It was sung by the father in the musical as he struggles with communicating with the teens in his house. There is a great need today for Godly fathers. There always has been and always will be such a need. During a visit to the children’s Bible class, a pastor asked the students, “Do you love God?” They nodded that they did love God. Then he asked, “Why do you love God?” After a moment a young student replied: “I guess it just runs in the family.”
I think of the man Joseph who dominates the storyline from Genesis chapter 37 to the last chapter of the Book of Genesis. I especially like these words by Ellen White in her book simply entitled: ‘Education.’ She would write, “In his childhood, Joseph had been taught the love and fear of God.
Often in his father’s tent, under the Syrian stars, he had been told the story of the night vision
at Bethel, of the ladder from heaven to earth, and the descending angels. By communion with God and of great truths handed down from father to son, Joseph had gained strength
of mind and firmness of principle.” I like that thought, “handed down from father to son.
What do fathers pass down to their children today? What picture of God do dads show their
families?
A teacher asked some preschool children to draw a picture of God. Toward the end of class,
the children were excited to show their work. They came up with rainbows and men
with big hands. Finally, there was a youngster that showed her picture of God. It was unclear
to the teacher what the young child meant because she had drawn a picture of a man with a suit
and tie. The young girl added, “I don’t know what God looks like,” she said, “so I drew my
daddy instead.”
I hope and pray that dads will have that kind of legacy that is shared by their families. A
family that might not know exactly how to draw God, but they have seen God in their dads.
It is a legacy that the Israelite leader named Joshua would have appreciated. “But for
me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
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Steve Bietz is the pastor at Morganton Seventh Day Adventist Church. You can read more good Christian news from Pastor Steve Bietz HERE.
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Blue Ridge Christian News covers Burke County, McDowell County, Mitchell County, Yancey County, Madison County, in North Carolina, and Christian news from around the country.
