FATHER’S DAY PODCAST

As we celebrate Father’s Day this year, I am acutely aware that our GOD-GIVEN rights as parents are under assault. 

Last week, the White House released a video “celebrating” PRIDE month. They might as well have called it “Groomer” month because the video used the phrase, “they are OUR children,” meaning, they are not YOUR children.

Folks,

• Your children do not belong to the government.
• Your children do not belong to the LBGTQ.
• Your children do not belong to your neighbor.
• Your children do not belong to your pastor.

God gave your children to you.

Every parent should be alarmed. They are coming for YOUR sons and daughters. We must fight to hold onto our God-given right to parent our children. 

However, as I look at our culture, the harsh reality is, there’s another, even more important battle we are losing — and we are losing badly.

Let me ask you: 

How are you doing at parenting and grandparenting? 

• Are you engaging daily with your kids?
• Are you listening carefully?
• Are you leading them, or are you simply crossing your fingers and hoping for the best?

We must absolutely fight to hold on to the right to parent our children. But we must work even harder to guide, mold and nurture them.

My growing up years were far from “normal.” Due to my dad’s travel schedule (he traveled 80% of the time) and the enormity of his job, my parents had to be creative in their parenting. There is no such thing as one-size-fits-all parenting. 

However, my parents were committed to parenting us well. I probably have 1,000 post cards my dad sent me from all over the globe during my growing up years. Every card is signed, “Love, Daddy.”  

But even more important, I realize now that my dad intentionally wove foundational lessons into my life that influence everything I do as an adult today.

So, what did my dad teach me?

Let me tell you a few stories.

(STORY: FATHER’S DAY 20 YEARS AGO)

Father’s Day, 20 years ago, I gave my dad the final manuscript of my book, GOD is the Issue.

It was the best gift I every gave him.

It was the last gift I ever gave him.

He died a month later.

I was eager to give it to him because I had dedicated it to him.

(STORY: “WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO WRITE?)

But I remember the first time I let him read one of my early manuscripts. He asked, “Where’d you learn to write?” I chuckled and said, “In college.”

But I was beaming inside because I realized what he had just said was, “You’re a really good writer. Where’d you learn to write?” My DAD was impressed with me.

He had always told me that if I learned to write and speak well, I would be able to do anything I wanted.

I took him seriously.

However — he then proceeded to ask me what the meaning of this word was, then that word, then another word a little later on.  After about the 4th or 5th time I said, “Dad, you know meanings of these words.  Why are you asking me what they mean?”

In effect, his response was this: “Are you writing to impress people, or are you writing to communicate?

If you want to impress people with your intellect, use big words. If you want to write to communicate, use words that people use in their everyday lives.

My dad wrote over 100 books and booklets. He probably gave 10,000 speeches in his lifetime. He had gone to seminary. He knew all the big words. But he tried to write “so that a 5th grader could understand.”

That day, he taught me the difference between writing and communicating.

But he was also the one who taught me that God really is the issue-in every issue.

(STORY: I DON’T CARE IF YOU DIG DITCHES)

I remember as I grew into my teen years, my dad started correcting my behavior less and less.

Instead, he often said, “I don’t care if you chose to dig ditches the rest or your life or if you become the President of the United States.  My greatest wish for you is that you learn to love God with your entire heart.

We lived in a fishbowl so that wasn’t a throw away statement. When I or my brother made bad decisions, they were often very public, and they reflected poorly on my parents.

It was FREEING to hear those words from my dad.

Unlike everyone on the outside looking in, he looked past my behavior, even though there was plenty he could have critiqued. He always encouraged me to be my best, but he never pressured me.

He was always very supportive, even when I told him I wanted to go into politics. I’m sure he looked at me and quietly listed off in his head all the reasons why that was a bad decision.

But he never said it.

He focused on who I would chose to follow, rather than what I did. He knew that if I eventually completely sold out to Jesus, everything else would fall into place.

(STORY: MINISTERING TO COLLEGE STUDENTS AT UW)

I spent a number of years ministering to college students. I often told them, “If I see questionable behavior in your life, we aren’t going to spend a lot of time talking about your behavior. We’re going to talk about what’s in your heart that’s driving the behavior.

Where do you think I learned that?

(STORY: WHERE DID YOU LEARN THIS?)

My dad knew that God was the issue and he lived it out in 1,000 different ways. I remember after he read the manuscript for the book the first time he asked, “Where did you learn this?” I looked him straight in the eye and replied, “Where do you think I learned this?”

I had watched him for years. It wasn’t so much his words that convinced me that God is the issue. It was his life. You can dismiss your father’s words, but you can’t dismiss his life.

I saw him cry real tears over those who rejected Jesus. I saw him fast one day a week for years and give the money he saved to help feed the poor. I saw him fast for 40 days on 7 different occasions.

I saw how he loved my mother. She could be a very strong woman. She was a wonderful person. She was extremely loyal and his greatest cheerleader. But she wasn’t perfect. None of us are.

(STORY: STRONG AS HORSERADISH)

I remember one time when I was frustrated with my mom, my dad calmly said to me, “Your mother can be as strong as horseradish. If it wasn’t for the Spirit-filled life there would have been no hope for this marriage.”

He learned to love my mom well. He often came through the front door at the end of the day trumpeting, “My love. My love. My love.” My mom’s heart melted every time.

God was at the center of everything my dad did and said. God was at the center of our family. God was the center of their marriage. The first and last thing my dad did every day was to get on his knees.

(STORY: “YOU MUST LOVE TO TRAVEL”)

My dad traveled about 80% of the time for 50 years, telling everyone who would listen about Jesus. After college, I traveled with him for about 18 months, carrying his bags and managing his schedule. One of the greatest 18 months of my life.

I remember one night after he finished speaking, a man came up to him and said, “Dr. Bright, you must love to travel, because you travel so much.”

With dry wit my dad responded, “Well, by that rationale the Apostle Paul must have loved being in prison, because he sure spent a lot of time there.” But then he got serious and said, “It is the love of Christ that constrains me.”

(STORY: I NATURALLY ENJOY ABOUT 5%)

Another time when dad and I were chatting. He made a comment I’ve never forgotten. He said,  “I probably naturally enjoy about 5% of what I do. I do the other 95% so I can do the 5%.”

I’m sorry I never asked him what the 5% was, because to this day, I don’t know. I don’t have a clue.

He seemed to enjoy everything he did. He never complained, even when he was dying of pulmonary fibrosis. He would always say, “I’m rejoicing in the Lord.”

Why? Because the love of Christ constrained him.

(STORY: ACTIVE CHILD)

I was the active child. My mom called it “energetic.” And I heard more than once, “Your brother was such a well-behaved child and then you came along.”

But in all my growing up years my dad never raised his voice at me in anger.

Lest you think he was passive, he had a razor strap that my hindquarters knew very well. I knew that if I lied or talked back to my mother that I would experience real consequences.

But he never disciplined me out of anger; he disciplined me out of love — just like God does with us.

(STORY: NEY BAILEY)

About a year after my dad died, I was having lunch with a friend in Dallas who had known my dad since before I was born. I told her this story. She leaned forward, looked me in the eye and said, “Brad, your dad wasn’t always that way.” It was the love of Christ that changed him.

I seek to follow God today, not because of my dad’s words, but because of his life.

My dad taught me that God is the issue in every issue, by the life he lived—every day.

So, my friends, let’s fight for our God-given right to parent our children. 

But never forget to fight every day for the time to parent your children well. 

• Fight for the time to pray for them. 
• Fight for the time to develop your own relationship with God, so you can model for your children what it looks like. 

SHOW your kids that God IS the issue, in every area of life.

If you need a tool to help you do that, Kathy and I wrote a family devotional, Because God is Awesome!, to help parents just like you have conversations with their kids about who God is and why it matters in their lives. 

You can order a copy at BrightMedia.org

And never forget. God is the issue—in every issue. Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there.

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