Father's Day!

My extended family's A-frame at dusk

Tomorrow is Father's Day! Not atypically, the date has slipped up on me, so I didn't get gifts for some of the special fathers in my life sent until last night. Whoops.  We have plans to celebrate on the water after church with my  #1 favorite father, the one with whom I've shared this crazy parenthood ride for 33+ years. We'll be taking our canoe and kayaks to the lake for some water play on what promises to be an extra sultry, summer day.

Raising sons and daughters is not for the fainthearted. Some seasons are particularly draining physically, while others entail more mental and emotional labor. No matter what season, there is a spiritual battle, and we need to be much in prayer, asking for the Lord to direct and work in our little and not so little ones. Time and again we find ourselves perplexed, wondering what path is the best one. With that in mind, here are some varied resources from three wise pastors and fathers.

My favorite parenting book of all times is J. C. Ryle's The Duties of Parents. This short little booklet gives seventeen "hints about right training" such as "Train them remembering continually how God trains His children," "Train them continually remembering the power of sin," and "Train them continually remembering the promises of Scripture."  These are old and simple words. Nothing I've read anywhere has been more helpful or a better summary of godly parenting.

In a different vein, Pastor John Piper a number of years ago wrote an essay called "Teenage Resolutions in Honor of Mom and Day: What I Pray our Teens Will Say." It's included in a collection of Piper's essays called A Godward Life, but you can also find most of this piece here.  Pastor Piper has used these resolutions in teaching junior and senior high students in his church, and they would be excellent for that. But this list is also helpful for parents of teens (and younger children) who are asking, "What ought we to expect from our growing young people?"

Finally, my pastor, Tim Bayly, has written an excellent, honest book for fathers called Daddy Tried: Overcoming the Failures of Fatherhood. You can purchase it from Amazon.

Here's hoping that you have a wonderful day celebrating the fathers in your life. And here's what's the best news of all. All of our earthly fathers are imperfect. Some more and some less. But our Father in Heaven does not fail. What a joy to be counted as among His children!

John 1: 12, 13
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the [e]right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.