Passionate about persecuting those following Christ, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He acquired letters from the high priest to present to synagogues in Damascus that granted him power to take any of those who belonged to the Way to Jerusalem as prisoners. But on the road to Damascus Saul was knocked to the ground by a light from Heaven that flashed around him.

I know a dad that was absolutely passionate in his role as a financial provider for his family. He worked hard, accepted moves with his company and pursued the next promotion and associated raise in pay. When his son started having behavioral problems in middle school, he was able to set up the best counseling money could buy to address the issues. But when the counselor said, ...read on

King Nebuchadnezzar was very intentional in assimilating the best and the brightest from lands conquered to the Babylonian way of life. Not only would his kingdom benefit from young, bright minds in the king’s service but retaliatory strikes were less likely when family members were present in the city. This was the fate of Daniel and his friends after Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem. They entered a 3-year training program where they were given new names and told what food to eat, how to worship and who to pray to.

Sounds like some of our schools today – 12 years of training in political correctness. Names are not changed but ...read on

Josiah was eight years old when he became king of Judah. His heritage through his dad and granddad was not good. In fact, Isaiah had prophesied against his dad, Amon, for the wickedness he practiced. It is not good for a king to be prophesied against by a prophet of God! We can only assume that other men or women of God began to influence Josiah because at age 26 he instructed the high priest to begin a refurbishment of the temple in Jerusalem.

Sounds like many of us – The heritage through our earthly fathers may or may not be good. In some cases it works out well – a dad is a good businessman and the son follows in his shoes. In another case, ...read on

Joshua was under the tutelage of Moses for over 40 years. He had proven himself a good and trustworthy soldier. So when it came time to step into Moses’ sandals to lead the Israelites into the promised-land, he was ready. His responsibilities included taking the people into Canaan, conquer the peoples there and apportion the land among different tribes.

Sounds like being a dad – We are to raise a generation that is prepared to ...read on

Concerns abound! The national debt, individual credit maxed out and student loans at record levels; polarization of opinions and relations is being stoked almost hourly by the media; and the world does not seem to be getting any safer. The daily issues in front of us escalate from the failure of the family to the church being under the influence of the culture to the government establishing more control over both.

With the noise level so high, distractions dominate the day. Take a moment and inventory what most of your conversations evolve around. Too often they involve anxiety and worry about the latest news story – this is being under the influence of the wrong stuff. The challenge is on to tune out the noise and tune in to ...read on

The 235^th birthday of these United States of America introduced a new level of irony as we celebrated the independence won against the king of Great Britain. Our founding fathers rallied the Colonies with the Declaration of Independence and proceeded to push back tyranny to birth a great nation. Historically, they orchestrated the only successful revolution against the British Empire.

The irony today is that “We the people, …”, that would be 76% of us here in Texas, that voted to validate the definition of marriage ...read on

It may be a local call to God from Texas but I sure feel a lot closer to Him in the mountains of Colorado. This past week I was blessed to go backpacking in the mountains with other fathers and sons – unplugged from technology, no sports or worldly news updates. Distractions were limited to wolves howling in the distance or a mule deer strolling through the campsite. We focused on the Creator in His creation, relationship with the Father and relationships between the fathers and sons.

The summit experience provided an opportunity for fathers and sons to connect at a new level of relationship. Day to day busy-ness can inhibit the maturing of the father-child relationship and the months, even years fly by. But with time committed and the daily noise of life tuned out, ...read on

In the country song, Billy Currington sings, “Walk a little straighter Daddy, you’re leading me.” Dad is always leading. The choices he makes determine whether he leads in the Way or leads in another way. Either way, kids will follow.

In an article looking at the Importance of Fathers to churchgoing, a Swiss survey is sited that documents the unique and powerful impact a father has on the faith of his children. If a father does not go to church, no matter how faithful his wife’s devotions, only one child in 50 will become a regular worshipper. If a father does ...read on

The assignment for the next study session was for each dad to ask their daughter for a date. The goals were: to have one-on-one dad/daughter time; to practice listening skills we had discussed; and work to engage emotionally to a new level of relationship. One dad came up to me and said he would not be doing the assignment. He went on to explain how his 15-year old daughter was always either with her friends or talking to them on her phone. Their relationship the past year had been pretty much limited to, “Hi” whenever they passed each other. They typically did not even eat dinner together as a family. After some discussion, the dad agreed to at least ask his daughter out for a date.

The next week’s study started off with testimonies of how the dad/daughter dates had gone. The dad that had not intended to do the assignment stood up and said he wanted to be first. He opened by giving the class a summary of our discussion the previous week and then said, ...read on

In a recent article, Jason Riley, author of Please Stop Helping Us, documented how government programs effectively discouraged dads from being present and accounted for in family. Government programs initiated in the 1960’s provided single moms up to $22,000 annually in benefits. That is equivalent to over $80,000 today! As with many social programs, good intent does not always get the desired results. The actual results over the last 50 years have had quite a negative impact on family, especially the black family. In 1960 approximately 70% of black children grew up with a mom and a dad in the home. Today that number is ...read on