Spiritual Fathers!

As a young boy, he had the opportunity to travel to some pretty exotic places as his father was a captain in the army.  However, that would all change during WW2 when his father was gone and he and his family were thrown into a concentration camp as Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies at that time.  He was all by himself with boys around his own age of 10.  It was there that he was put under forced labour and had to fight for his very life and the little bowls of rice that they would get.  Close to the end of the occupation, he would almost die of malayria; however thankfully he would survive and be returned to his family.  At that point they moved back to the Netherlands and he would later go to college and complete a college degree in agriculture.  It was shortly after that when he married his beautiful bride and took the opportunity to start a new life in Canada as it was FREE to take a ship at that time in 1955.  They would try to make a go of it on a farm near the Holland marsh...where else and would end up living in Stroud and then eventually move to Bramalea where he would find consistent work.  Although he never fully realized his dream of owning his own farm and while he couldn't teach his sons too much about sports if he tried...at a father/son baseball game he managed to get a great hit only to run to 3rd base instead of 1st!!

However what he did teach his five sons was worth its weight in gold.  He taught his boys to live life passionately, to live it as a great adventure, to love and be faithful to your wife and to just get out of the house when you're steamed!  He also knew that romance starts long before the bedroom and wouldn't hesitate to chase his wife around the kitchen giving her the odd pinch!!  He also taught his boys how to love God passionately and his youngest son remembers many times passing by his bedroom and seeing him on his knees praying to the God He loved.  He would write in their Bibles and always be there for them, consistently at their sports games and always ready to give a ride home if necessary.

BUT,  just make sure you ate everything on your plate because he couldn't tolerate wasted food!

Howeverv, for some the thoughts of fathers can bring back painful memories, missed opportunities and for others it can bring a great deal of joy.  I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for men and for fathers to be engaged in the call to mentor, to encourage, to train and to inspire. 

For those of you who have not had that experience, I want to say that God longs to be the father to the fatherless, to the widows and orphans.  This is the only time that religion is painted in a positive light in the NT.  It is found in James 1:27

We need men to be present in our homes and it is just not a physical presence, but an emotional and spiritual one as well.  The statistics of those who haven’t had that father figure is staggering.

(granted these are American stats, but we are not too far off)

·         90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes

·         85% of children who exhibit behavioral disorders…

·         71% of dropouts

·         75% of patients in drug abuse centres

It was that very reason that God laid on my heart the verse in Malachi 4:6 where it says He  will ‘turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers’ 

I know I have had more of a father in 21 years than most people do in a lifetime and for that I am very grateful.

 I also want to speak to the reality of the need for spiritual fathers in our midst.  One such man in my life was Bob Gage.  Bob passed away last week and this is in part a tribute to him.

Bob was an amazing mentor, encourager and friend in my life and inspired me to lead as a young man who was part of CSB Battalion Unit 1235 in Georgetown, ON from ’81 –’85.  It was Bob who would take us on a survivorman weeklong canoe trips on the Madawaska River.  We would learn to take risks as we navigated through some pretty incredible rapids and I can remember as clear as day how he taught us to be not hearers only, but doers of the Word.  He also taught me so much about conversational prayer with the Lord and encouraged me to pursue my Herald of Christ as well.  He would pray prayers like 'may we have a wild and spoofy time and God may the guys learn to put their faith in you when the capsize their canoes!...and we did much to his delight.  I know he is a big part of who I have become today and it is because of him that I have such a passion to see the Church be intentional in our ministry to boys and men.
 
The fact is God called us to lead the way, but to do it under His leadership!

The father of a righteous man has great joy.  Proverbs 23:24

So, we resonate with it, but how do we go about living the way God intended for us, the way that brings joy through our lives to others.  Pray with me for godly men to take up the high calling of spiritual fatherhood.