Father's Day

This coming Sunday, June 16th, is a special day of honoring our Fathers!  As this special day approaches, I like to walk back down memory's lane and think of how very blessed I am to have had a wonderful father who loved God, loved His Holy Word, and honored His Holy Day!  It is heart-breaking today to think of the many little children who have no father in their home.  If you have a godly father, you are very blessed!   He is worthy of your love and gratefulness on this very special day set aside to remember and honor him!

Father's Day, which is observed the third Sunday of June, was the idea of Mrs. John Bruce Dodd of Spokane, Washington.  She had suggested the idea to honor her own father, William Smart, a veteran of the Civil War, who had reared his six motherless children after he was left a widower when his wife died after the birth of their sixth child.  Mrs. Dodd thought he had done such an outstanding job as both father and mother that she had wanted to do something to perpetuate his memory.

In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge was the first president to recommend the national observance of Father's Day.  The original intent of this day was a dedication to the building of good citizenship at home, in the nation, and in the church.
Perhaps you're wondering -- When is a father just "Dad"?  H.C. Chatfield answers --
     "If he makes a pal of you when you're good, and is too wise to let you pull the wool over his loving eyes when you're not; if you're sure no one else has quite so fine a father, you may call him 'Dad'!"

Best Wishes for a wonderful Father's Day to my boys -- Randy, Jonathan and Joel; my son-in-law, Tommie and my grandson, Adrian!  I pray that God will make you mighty men of valour, strong and courageous; men fully surrendered to God!  May you live so that you can say to the children the Lord has given you to train for Him -- "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ."