The Impact of Fathers

The Impact of Fathers

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is an early Father's Day message by James Dobson, and the Scripture is at the bottom of the excerpt.

 

Prisons are populated primarily by men who were abandoned or rejected by their fathers.  Motivational speaker and writer Zig Ziglar quotes his friend Bill Glass, a dedicated evangelist who counseled almost every weekend for 25 years with men who were incarcerated, as saying that among the thousands of prisoners he had met, not one of them genuinely loved his dad.  95% of those on death row hated their fathers.  In 1998, there were 1,202,107 people in federal or state prisons.  Of that number 94% were males.  Of the 3,452 prisoners awaiting execution, only 48 were women.  That amounts to 98.6% males.  Clearly, as Babara Jackson said, "it is far easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

 

Some years ago, executives of a greeting-card company decided to do something special for Mother's Day.  They set up a table in a federal prison, inviting any inmate who so desired to send a free card to his mom.  The lines were so long, they had to make another trip to the factory to get more cards.  Due to the success of the event, they decided to do the same thing on Father's Day, but this time no one came.  Not one prisoner felt the need to send a card to his dad.  Many had no idea who their fathers even were.  What a sobering illustration of a dad's importance to his children.

 

I once had a conversation with a man named Bill Houghton, who was president of a large construction firm.  Through the years, he had hired and managed thousands of employees.  I asked him,"When you are thinking of hiring an employee-especially a man-what do you look for?"  His answer surprised me.  He said, "I look primarily at the relationship between a man and his father.  If he felt loved by his dad and respected his authority, he's likely to be a good employee."  Then he added, "I won't hire a young man who has been in rebellion against his dad.  He will have difficulty with me, too."  I have also observed that the relationship between a boy and his father sets the tone for so much of what is to come.  He is that important at home.

 

Psalm 27:10 Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining