Just Being There

I was thinking about priorities. Like the importance of putting your family ahead of your profession. Naturally we have to work, but we need to continue to build a relationship with our family. Let me tell you a story about the tension that exists between work and family.

I remember when I was a young boy that my Dad worked two jobs for a time. My Dad had always been a "hands on" kind of guy. He was an electrician, refrigeration and heating repair man. He was always doing manual labor. Early on in life Dad tried to start his own company, he did it for a while but he finally just closed shop in order to go work for someone else.

Back to my story. At this time Dad was working for a company( during the day) that dealt with repair work, and he just got hired on to work at Coca-Cola. He worked in the plant and since he was new, he worked the night shift. I told my Mom that I wanted to wait up for Dad because I had not seen him all day. I tried but I fell asleep. It wasn't that my Dad didn't love me it was that at that time we needed the money. Things were tight and Dad was no stranger to hard work.

I needed my Dad, I loved My Dad and I wanted to be just like my Dad. These are things that have stayed with me over the years. My Dad has been gone for about 9 years, and still long for his company. You never outgrow your need for your Dad.

Fast forward to the present day. I am the Father of four very different children. None of them are the same and they all have different needs, but they are my children. I love my children and I want the best for them. There is a constant battle that I face daily when it comes to the demands of ministry. I must choose to spend time with my family and not spend all of my hours at the church. I want to be there (physically and emotionally) for my children. I want to be a good Father to my children, how about you?

Tomorrow I will share about a time in my life when family time was almost non-existent, and what I did about it.