I don’t usually post anything on Sundays, however, as I sit here Saturday night working on my lesson for tomorrow’s Sunday School class I can not help but think of Father’s Day and my father. I just wanted to take a moment and wish everyone a Happy Father’s Day and to share with you a little about my father.
My father was a mechanic. He worked on farm equipment and as far as I knew he could fix anything that had an engine. He tried to teach me everything he knew about working on engines and equipment but God didn’t bless me with the same gifts that he gave my father. I thought about this earlier today as I was doing some routine maintenance on my John Deere mower (the closest I will ever get to a tractor.) Even though I should have this ability coursing through my veins, I don’t. I had a friend come over to help me and make sure that I didn’t hurt myself or the mower.
I did, however, learn some things from him. He taught me how to fish, even though I don’t have time to go fishing anymore. He taught me how to garden or as I thought at the time, punished me by forcing me to work in the garden. But there isn’t time for that these days either, so I purchase my vegetables at the market like the rest of you city folks. He also taught me to love the Lord, and thankfully I paid attention.
One of the memories that I have of my father while I was growing up was him preparing for his Sunday School lesson every Saturday night. As we would try to watch television he would be sitting in his chair reading his lesson and his Bible. Reading, studying, preparing to teach the adults at church the following Sunday morning. In fact for as long as I can remember my father taught Sunday School at church. Maybe that is why I volunteered to teach our class at church when the need arose. I remembered my father teaching and I wanted to do that as well.
I realized last week that I have now been teaching this same class since 1998. Someone told me that it had been 14 years but they had to have been doing the math wrong. It really hit home with me when I started thinking that I have been teaching this class for 2/3 of my children’s lives. They probably don’t remember a time when I didn’t teach my Sunday School class. In fact, if you will ask them what their father does on Saturday nights they would probably tell you that he reads his Sunday School lesson, studies his Bible, and prepares to teach the adults at church the following Sunday morning.
I guess there were some things that my dad taught me that didn’t go over my head. Or as he would have said, “in one ear and out the other.” I was paying attention those Saturday nights when he was focused on his reading. I was watching as he drove us to church each Sunday. And I was proud of the fact that my father taught the other adults about Jesus. I wanted to be just like him.
Thanks Dad!
Be sure to thank your Dad today!
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