With a dad like mine, I didn't stand a chance!

I remember the first time I saw my father cry. It shook me to the core. Up until then, I had never seen my strong first sergeant father shed a tear. Yet here he was crying in front of me, his high school age son. I really looked up to my father. Even though I realized by now that he was human, in my eyes, he was still my hero. He began to tell me that he had heard a few things about my activities both at school and in the community. You see, I had made a stupid choice and my father had just found out what I had done and was confronting me about it.  As I sat there with him, my heart was racing. I just knew that I was going to get it now...grounded forever...I'll never be allowed to drive the car again...or maybe worse, I might have to see the dentist in the morning.  Yet my father did none of those things. Instead, as we sat there together, he cried and said that he was sorry that he had let me down.  He confessed that he had spent too much time on the road and too much time working extra jobs. Now I was really confused. I wanted to say something but I was too afraid because I had never experienced anything like this with my father.  He said "your uncle told me what you have done and I am sorry that I have not given you the confidence in me that you felt you had to go to him for help in your deepest hour of concern".  I sat there thinking, how could I break my father's heart?  With a dad like mine, I didn't stand a chance.

Today I'm a grown man, a husband, father and grandfather. My dad is in heaven now.  I can no longer hear his voice on the phone, saying, "I'm fine" and asking me, "how are you and the children", and always reminding me, "remember to take care of your family and don't you do anything to embarrass our family name".   My reply always was, "Yes Sir I will".  Almost every day of my life I'm faced with temptation to lie, cheat, steal and lust, but with a dad like mine, I still don't stand a chance! You see my father left a legacy that family must come first. He was a deacon and always prayed for his family.  When my son was a baby and had to have surgery, my dad dropped everything, left his job the moment he got the word, picked up my mother and drove until he got to the hospital where we were. He would not leave until he knew that my son and I were doing well. With a dad like mine I didn't stand a chance.

My prayer for you is that you will get into the habit of praying for your children, calling each one by name every day. I pray that you will make sure that they understand that they are important to you, even if you haven't always gotten it just right. What you will be providing for your children, is exactly what my father provided for me.  You see the reason I never stood a chance was because my father prayed for me and set a standard for manhood and fatherhood that is with me to this day.

With a dad like mine, I didn't stand a chance!

Faithfully Yours,

Bishop E.V. Reeves