Opportunity

I remember leading my Dad to the Lord. He was seventy years old and lying in the hospital bed. Dad had suffered a massive heart attack; they didn’t know if he was going to live or die. We immediately drove to Asheville, and my father made it through the night. He was actually miraculously recovering. It was amazing! Even the doctors were incredulous as they didn’t think he would live.

I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to tell my dad something, and it was this: “I just want you to know that I believe you were the best dad you could possibly be, and I believe that with all my heart.” And he started to cry; I had never really seen my dad cry. He said, “Son, you know that’s a lie—that’s not true.” I said, “Oh no, no, Dad, in my heart, I believe you did the very best you could possibly do as a dad. I just want to say ‘thank you’ for being the best dad you could be.” And ultimately, he and my stepmother made a profession of faith in Christ and confessed past mistakes.

You know what happens? We make mistakes sometimes, and we don’t know how to recover, and so we just keep going on. We keep pressing forward sometimes because we don’t know how to go back and fix the situation. Sometimes situations are not repairable, so then the best thing we can do is to move forward.

If you have the opportunity to still be able to talk with your father, call and tell him that you love him.

Without dads, none of us would be here. We hear that said a lot about mothers, but we need dads, too. And if ever there was a time when we needed more dads to step up and be fathers, it’s today. There are segments of our society where over two-thirds of the children are being raised in fatherless homes, and it is having an impact on our culture and our society. It’s crossing all racial and economic boundaries because it is a cultural and social issue.

The bottom line is that we need to honor fathers, and we, as fathers, need to act honorably as well.

This is the first installment in a series of blogs that deals with recognizing and seizing opportunities. One thing that has become apparent to me over the years is that every negative situation has the potential to become a positive opportunity.

By the way, have you called your dad yet?

PG