I\u2019ve been friends and ministry partners with Bill Dotson for over 30 years now. One of the many things that sometimes give Bill doubts about me is my lifelong love of the music (not necessarily the politics) of Bruce Springsteen, who I\u2019ve seen live in concert 40 times since 1976. As Bruce sings, and I love to quote, \u201cIt ain\u2019t no sin to be glad you\u2019re alive\u201d. In a cover interview in Esquire in December (the fact that I read Esquire is another point of concern for Bill-I expect this is the first blog in Abiding<\/em> Fathers history to quote from THAT source!), Bruce said the following which I found of interest.<\/p>\n (Interviewer) \u201cIs there anything your father never said to you that you wish he had said?\u201d <\/em>(Bruce) \u201cWell, he never said I love you. He never got around to it. I know he did, it just wasn\u2019t in his repertoire.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n (Interviewer) \u201cIs there something you\u2019d want to hear from him today?\u201d <\/em>(Bruce\u2019s dad passed many years ago) (Bruce) \u201cHonestly, I would have liked him to see who I was. This is what I was always running up against. He couldn\u2019t see who I was. That\u2019s what your children want from you-you are their audience.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n (Interviewer) \u201cWhat would you say if you had to give advice to someone raising sons today?<\/em> (Bruce has two grown sons and a grown daughter, all in their mid-to-late-twenties.) (Bruce) \u201cMy kids, we\u2019re lucky, they\u2019re solid citizens. If I have any advice to give, it\u2019s be present, be there. I mean you have to be fully present in mind, spirit and body\u2026.my children are transitioning into adulthood, but I\u2019ve found my presence still carries a great deal of weight on that rare occasion when one of them actually still asks me a question.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I read that and I hear God speaking through the noise of the culture and I\u2019m reminded of the importance of what He\u2019s doing with and through Abiding<\/em> Fathers. There\u2019s lots of ways out there that God is working and moving and spreading the message of the importance of dads really being present in their children\u2019s lives. I need to remember that one of the (many) reasons God doesn\u2019t take us home immediately upon our salvation is that we each have a part to play in spreading the news about Him. Some people hear that in church, some people hear that in relationships, others hear it in Scripture and yes, some people may be surprised when they hear it in the tumult of today\u2019s society. It\u2019s a reminder of another of my favorite Springsteen lyrics, \u201cThis train carries saints and sinners, this train carries losers and winners\u2026now, get on board\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n My relationship with my dad was complicated and didn\u2019t always play out as I had hoped, so Bruce\u2019s first two answers above really spoke to the wounds in my heart (which by God\u2019s grace were healed long ago). My relationships with my two (now grown) sons are on a much better footing, but you never retire from being a dad, so Bruce\u2019s last answer really speaks to me on this part of the path I\u2019m on with them now. My relationship with this ministry is defined by a verse that hangs on my office wall (a beautiful piece of art drawn by Bill\u2019s grand-daughter Annie) that says \u201cAnd HE will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children\u201d<\/em> (Malachi 4:6a<\/a>). Where and how is God speaking to you today about your heart as a father? After all, as Bruce would say \u201cLay down your money and you play your part, everybody\u2019s got a hungry heart\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bruce Springsteen I\u2019ve been friends and ministry partners with Bill Dotson for over 30 years now. One of the many things that sometimes give Bill doubts about me is my lifelong love of the music (not necessarily the politics) of Bruce Springsteen, who I\u2019ve seen live in concert 40 times since 1976. As Bruce sings, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,54,67],"tags":[62,55,82],"class_list":["post-3223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abiding","category-absent","category-role","tag-bethedad","tag-brokenness","tag-parenting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/af2.musiimes.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}God speaks<\/h3>\n
Play your part<\/h3>\n