So, this was my Crossroads/QSource VQ. I showed up at 6:20am to a parking lot full F3 of trucks and other vehicles, but no Pax. So, I started off rucking… after about 3 miles I eventually saw Gear Wrench and Sarlaac toward the end of my ruck, but that was it until the COT. That’s where I was informed of the perils of my fellow Pax as I safely “slowsied” around the town square.
At first Suess was lost… without his phone. Dr. Suess eventually showed up, but where was Purple Haze and Def Leppard?! Well, apparently Def broke his light on his way out… THEN Purple Haze popped a tire a bit of a ways into the ride. Not really sure of the rest of the route, the Pax riding with him still continued on while Haze fixed his flat (or so they thought). Haze apparently still had issues and his new tube wouldn’t hold air. So, he thought to call his M. Well, apparently when he put his phone in this back shirt pocket, facing into his back. So, his back must have been pushing buttons on his phone during the ride and locked his phone up in some emergency mode that wouldn’t clear for a certain amount of time – Great! Luckily, he rides with an emergency beacon that he was able to set off, but it didn’t seem to work right off.
All the while the other Pax are all sort of splintered. There’s one group still riding together, but Gear Wrench gets turned around and ends up going up a few steep hills he didn’t anticipate, trying to backtrack back toward the COT. Def and Suess get paired up when all of the sudden Def pops one of his tires. Neither him or Suess are riding with a phone, Leppard thinking “I don’t need no stink’n phone… riding in a big group like dis, pshhhh! I’ll be fine”. Suess was able to make it back to let us know, telling us the round about location where Def Leppard broke down. All the while… Def Leppard is walking back.
Now, I don’t have all of the logistics for this set of stories. For that you’d have to ask the Pax involved. These are just the highlights, but from what I understand… Leppard broke down a bit of a ways out (maybe Dallas Spencer Mountain Road) and when Purple Haze and his M eventually found him… He was walking over near North Gaston High School – crazy!
For Q Source I talked about Shorties… I started off trying to talk about “Shawties” with a definition from Urban Dictionary. But judging from the looks from the Pax, they weren’t having that.
For the real lesson I had prepared this:
After the M, Shorties are next on the next ring on the Concentrica. You can’t have an effective relationship with your kids if you don’t have a good relationship with your M. That is why the are second to the M.
Now, for those of use who have children, I am sure I don’t need to say that you would do anything for them, including giving up your life if things ever came to that. It’s just a fact, without hessitation.
And your relationship with your children is unique, and incredibly special. It’s a super important job, the job of being a parent, but especially a “Dad”. You can change jobs, wives, shoes, shirts… whatever, but that child is always yours. You can’t change that. They have your DNA, and often look like you.
I remember when my daughter was in pre-school. At the time, I had not yet met her teacher. But I had to go pick her up for a doctor’s appointment (or something). They were eating snack in the cafateria. I walked in and this lady doesn’t say, “Hi” or “Hello, what can I help you with?”. She just says, “She’s over there”. I was like “Uh, exuse me?”. She says, “Your daughter, Lydia, she’s over there. You are her Dad, right? She’s over there”.
We can’t hide, or why away from our responsibilities to our kids. Our responsibility is eternal, just like the consequences if we commit mal practice in our relationship with them and their upbringing. The seeds of discontent sown by the ineffective father will yield a legacy of damaged fruit. How you love and father your kids determinds how they love others as they get older. This is also how your kids might understand God. Now, we’re not God by any means. But think about it, as your kids get older and potentially (hopefully) start thinking about God as “God the Father” how they see Him can have a direct corelation to how you were to them. I have been in many sermons on Sunday where the preacher broke this down and you can see people in the congregation breaking down because their relationship with their father wasn’t anything like how God is toward us.
Now, Suess, I don’t know you extremely well, but didn’t think you have any kids. But you sort of do, being a teacher. Heck, just being an older gentleman at your church and in our community. Your example, and how you treat people is noticed and has an impact. The same is true for all of us. That should weigh on us pretty heavy.
I think about some of our neighbors. They have an only child, a daughter that my daughter hangs out with. She’s a little younger than my daughter… but at times she is just a spoiled rotten brat. She can be fine and good, but just not consistently. Now, you may say or think this about my kids, but like this girl is the living embodiment of what people always think about only children. She’s entitled, rude at times… she’s deceitful and just seeing how the parents are… her behavior is partly because her parents let her get away with things, or don’t teach her how she should be. I’m an only child. To my parent’s credit, but particularly my Dad… I get told by adult friends that I don’t act like an only child, like new friends are sometimes shocked when they find that out about me and I think that is because of the relationship I had with my Dad.
Along with some many other things, a father is meant to be a constant, or a central point, we’re meant to be a grounding point. What I mean is that we’re meant to be a safe haven for our kids and those we affect. If your kid needs anything from you, you need to be ready, willing, and able to provide what they need. Now, notice I didn’t say to give them what they want, but what they need in whatever situation it is. As they grow older, and potentially stray away from us, we still need to be ready for them to come back when they need us the most (like the story of the Prodigal Son).
That story in Luke chapter 15 is all about God’s love for us. We are born sinners, everything about our core nature is to rebel against God. You can still be a moral and “nice” person, but apart from God you are still a sinner in need of a savior. But, like the story, we need to be like the father, like our Heavenly Father, and graciously be there for our kids. They may not need us to go kill the fatted calf and throw a party for them, but at the very least they need us to love them and be there for them… to guide them and teach them how to get through this life so they can get to the next one… the eternal one.
Announcements:
– 2nd F Lunch – Noon – Wednesday, July 20th at Bubba 33’s in Gastonia
– Dad’s 2.0 workout Saturday, July 23rd at Gashouse @ 7am
– Tubing Trip – July 30th
Prayer Requests:
– Def Leppard
– Purple Haze’s Family
– Huckleberry
– Turtle Man
– Sparky MRI
– Our World and all the Pax
