What Now?

Before I talk about winding up our series on The Habits of Grace, let me say something about fathers. Should we celebrate Father’s Day? Do fathers really matter to us - any of us? All of us? Of course, we should regale our good dad’s with a day of appreciation. But, if being in the Foster Care System has taught me anything - it is the beauty of good fathers.As I sat in court and then in the Foster Care Review and I reflected on the massive brokenness of families in our city, I believe that about 95% of these problems are caused by bad fathers, absentee fathers, or abusive fathers. Think about it. If every man that fathered a child was totally committed to the future glory of that child and was totally committed to making the mother of that child more beautiful every day, what kind of society would we live in? It would be a little heaven on earth, would it not?Most of the problems I deal with in people of any and every age come back to father wounds. So when I say, a good dad is a thing of breathtaking beauty, I am not making that up. The power of a father is so great that in his book The Faith of Christopher Hitchens, Larry Taunton makes a point of how fathers influence their homes and he quotes a statistic about fathers that is astounding: "...when a mother converts to Christianity, 17 percent of the time the children do too; when a father converts, the figure rises to an astonishing 93 percent." (This is according to Polly House in a paper “Want the church to grow? Then bring in the Men.” April 3, 2003)So dads - let’s be worthy of any honor we receive this Sunday!On Sunday we will finish up this series by asking the question, “What now?” In other words, if I am making these things habits in my life, what should I expect? If we are all seeking to live out the Christian life with intentionality and passion, why do we all look so different and grow at such different paces? Good question. That is the question before the house this Sunday as Tribe St. Patrick gathers to give God glory and know his deep friendship with us.Blessings,Jim