Right now my family is feeling very blessed. There are many blessings to count, but the one right in front of us is the Lord’s provision for our Ireland mission trip. My wife Brit and I feel a specific call to be pioneering missionaries in foreign lands. At first is was more my wife than me, but after we went to Belize to help establish kids and youth services and leadership for those services, I was hooked. We were able to do it again for a year and a half at a later time, and we are now looking forward to going on mission again for ten months, starting in August.
With any move comes tons of details, needs, and challenges, but a cross-cultural, international move with a family of five and a large German Shepherd dog is next level. We’re learning needs so we don’t end up misunderstanding or offending people before we get a chance to be a blessing. And there are financial needs to survive and thrive as a family and as missionaries trying to bear lasting fruit for Jesus.
I know you are thinking this is going to be an “ask for money” letter. Actually, we are fully funded. Yep, you read right, fully funded. We have received so many blessings financially. An Irish mechanic heard we were coming and gave us a car. One family heard we were going and bought our airline tickets. The First Baptist Foundation who we pay our church’s monthly mortgage to gave us a large donation. Some family members gave significant donations. A few people I don’t even really know have pitched in. A guy I was good friends with in Oregon 25 years ago gave us ministry supplies, money for doing kids nights, and airfare so we can come home for Christmas. I have qualified for a three-month sabbatical so Living Streams is giving me three months of salary. And on and on and on.
One of the main reasons we chose to go to Ireland was because I have Irish citizenship and Brit or I could get a job over there. But now because of all these wonderful people, Brit and I can focus more on helping a little church in Tipperary grow into all God has in mind for it. We’ll teach as many kids as possible that following Jesus is the greatest adventure, and train up some young men and women to be leaders in the church for years to come. We are very grateful we have been blessed to be a blessing.
I want to mention another reality, especially as we celebrate fathers this weekend. The Bible makes it very clear fathers are supposed to bless their children so their children can be a blessing. Proverbs teaches on this. The high priestly prayers of the Torah allude to this. Abraham, the father of faith, was told God’s plan was to bless him so every nation on earth could be blessed through him. The great commission Jesus gave to His disciples echoes the same concept: go into all the world and give my teachings to others. Or think of Jesus’ teaching on prayer: forgive others as You have received forgiveness.
This is God’s plan. This is the way it is supposed to work. But every Father’s Day, I am reminded of the dads who did not receive a father’s blessing from their dad. How can someone give their children a blessing they never received from their own father? Or teach something no one ever taught them?
The simple answer is, with God all things are possible. The more helpful answer is, do it a little clumsy and messy at first, but keep trying and you’ll get the hang of it. Remember kids do not really want what their dad can give them, they just want their dad. Dads, know that YOU ARE THE BLESSING. Your time, your attention, your presence, your strength, your jokes (no matter how corny), your apologies, your laughter, your wisdom, your faithfulness, and your weaknesses. Your kids need to see and know all of it.
The greatest blessing Jesus ever gave us was His incarnate presence. What your kids really need—whether you have received blessing from your father or endless amounts of insecurities from your father—is your incarnate presence. They need you to stay. They need you to study them and learn about them. They need you to enjoy them. They need you to warn them. And they need you to hold them.
Don’t ever forget, dads, YOU ARE THE BLESSING.
David