Fathers And Their Children

 Fathers And Their Children

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBw5rjWjZSk
One of the best clips ever, especially appropriate on Father's Day. It's from February 12, 2015.

I showed the above video in four of my five classes today. (We ran out of time eighth period or it would have been a clean sweep.) It provoked a strong reaction and I would strongly urge you to take three minutes and watch it. I talked to my students about their frustration with parents on occasion but also being aware of how much their folks love them and sacrifice for them. The toughest part of the clip for me was the famished father telling his little girl he wasn't hungry so she could eat a little bit more. I thought of Psalms 103, verse 13:
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
If you have an earthly father who loves you, praise God. If not, praise God that the Lord still loves us more than we can comprehend.

I've seen this guy several times now, enough to recognize him. I lift weights and swim at my fitness club near WCS both before and after school. Recently, the weather has turned kind and they have begun group tennis lessons on the newly refurbished courts right outside the glass enclosed pool where I swim/run. On Monday, I think, as I was thrashing about in the waves, I saw this man arrive late to the lessons with his I would guess ten or eleven year old daughter in tow. He obviously came from work, still dressed in a suit. He sat in the bleachers, transfixed as his child hit tennis balls. This afternoon, I was lifting in the weight room area, and I saw him again in my indoor section. He moved from the upper level to the lower level, still immaculately dressed, still watching his daughter go through her lessons on the adjacent blue artificial surface. I would guess he didn't want her to see him so he was covertly observing. I never got the idea he was the typical helicopter dad, just incredibly devoted to his offspring without wanting to interfere. I could be wrong but my guess he has no athletic ability and maybe he's just hoping she can have an experience he missed out on. I almost got so caught up in watching him as I lifted that I didn't pay as much attention to my routine as I should have. I saw the group of kids exit the outside courts and enter the inside ones and he disappeared. I think I'll probably see him again.

I've coached so long that practices of different sports all seem similar and one athlete at that level is pretty much like the others. But I wondered today what it would be like to watch your own flesh and blood hit a ball or shoot a basket or run a race. I can only imagine how that would feel, the sense of pride and anxiousness. And I can only be in awe when I realize that's how our Heavenly Father feels about you and me. What a feeling.

Applicable quote of the day:
"As the oldest I was a daddy's girl and loved him with all my heart. My daddy had holes in his shoes so that he could pay for my photography classes, you know what I mean."

Sherri Shepherd

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1