Fathers – What Makes Them Good Dads?
By Steve Williams
Mitchell County
June is here and that means that Father’s Day is near. I sure am glad I have had 3 great men in my life. A good father Floyd Williams and a paw-paw Ed Williams. I have many great memories of doing things with them. They taught me a lot in life, like how to raise baby calves using a bottle. They taught me how to hunt and to fish and how to drive a tractor, and drive nails and plant a garden, and how to kill a hog and how to preserve the meat. These are things I have never forgotten. I will cherish these memories forever. But one thing that stands out to this day about my Paw-paw was, that he was a faithful man. He read his Bible every day. He had an Open Window devotions book in his lunch box that he took to work and read before every meal. He would always pray and thank God for what he had. My Dad also has taught me something that I will never forget. That is what it is to be faithful to your spouse. In the latter years of my mom’s life, she had several things happen and was in the hospital for several months, but he never left her side. Then eventually we had to place her in a rest home because we could no longer take care of her. And there again every day he would go to the Brian Center and sit with her from 7 am to 7 pm or till they got her in bed. During that time, he stayed with her and took care of her and also visited and helped many other patients up and down the 100 hall of the Brian Center. He did that I know for over 3 years. He showed me what it was to be faithful to the end. 
I asked myself what made my dad and paw-paw good men? Well, let me tell you it was the third man that they knew and that they introduced me to when I was a child. This third man was the Lord Jesus Christ. See a good dad is one who knows Jesus Christ as their Personal Savior. No matter how good a dad or a provider you are you’ll never be the dad you should be until you know Jesus Christ as your Savior. A good dad is one who brings his family to church. Dad’s you can take your family all over the world but until you show them the importance of being at God’s House as a family, you’ll never be the dad God wants you to be. A good dad is one who can be respected. I believe a man who Loves God and Honors God with his life will be respected by his family. I saw these three things in my dad and paw-paw’s life. Dads let me challenge you to step up to the plate and be the dad God wants you to be.
I heard a funny little story the other day about getting on the ball dad. The story goes there was a golfer who hit a ball and it landed on an anthill. The golfer swung at the ball and missed it. His club plowed through one side of the anthill, killing hundreds of ants. He swung again, duplicating the destruction on the other side of the anthill. Still, the ball remained untouched. Finally, one ant cried out to the other ants “if we want to save our lives we better get on the ball” The work of the church is not to gratify man but to glorify God: The Bible says 2 Corinthians 6:2 “… behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” It’s like the ant said, we better get on the ball dads if we expect to do anything for the Lord.
Pastor Steve Williams
Question of the Month.
If you aren’t going all the way for God, why go at all?
Words of Wisdom
- Don’t pay attention to the person who belittles you. He’s trying to cut you down to his size. N/A
- Want a good spouse? Be one. N/A
- The Lord uses those Christians who stay cool in a hot place, sweet in a sour place, and straight in a crooked place. N/A
- Obstacles are those terrible things you see when you take your eyes off the Lord. N/A
- You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hand in your pocket. N/A
Dad’s, Here Are Some Words We Need to Think About.
- Many fathers are finding out that a pat on the back helps to develop character-if given often enough, early enough, and low enough.
- The family tree is worth Bragging about if it consistently produces good timber and not just nuts.
- A Child isn’t likely to find a father in God unless he finds something of God in his father.
- Whether a man ends up with a nest egg or a goose egg depends on the chick he married.
- Every father teaches, some by what he says, more by what he does, but most by what he is.
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Steve Williams is the pastor of Berry Chapel Baptist Church in Spruce Pine, North Carolina.
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