It never fails....and it always takes me by surprise. Today (Saturday) is Father's Day.....for in our house Father's Day has always been 'celebrated' on the day before. It would have been 1963....well that's my guess anyway....probably in the fall. I took the Port Authority bus for the eight mile trip to downtown Pittsburgh....(I would have been 13 years old)....to buy a copy of Gary Player's book....Gary Player's Golf Secrets....and have him autograph it. The venue was the old Hughes & Hatcher men's clothing store. Whatever the date....I remember him sitting behind the table....and smiling up as he asked for the name of the person requesting the autograph....and thanking them for buying his book. It would have been one of the first hardcover books that I ever read....cover to cover.
I know that I watched more golf on television today (Saturday) than I had in the past forty years. I just came in the house and plopped down in the chair.....expecting only a few minute rest.....but I clicked on the tube.....and the U. S. Open mesmerized me. Maybe it was the incredible graphics or the drone camera or the course itself....or maybe the intensity of watching the golfers in this third round playing out of sand traps and missing fairways or making long putts to make par....or maybe it was the making of eagle putts?
Who were these golfers....particularly this weight lifting guy that out-drives everyone else. I remember the name Oosterhuis from way back when.....but who is this Oosthuizen. I don't even know how to pronounce this Koepka's name.
So why am I writing this? Well you're not going to like the answer but here it is. It interested me enough today that I would like very much to plop down on that chair again tomorrow and see how this turns out.....but instead I won't find out until Monday morning.....because tomorrow is the Lord's Day! That partially explains why Father's Day is always celebrated in our home the day before.
Back to...."It never fails".....yesterday my wife put a card and a gift before me....and I had forgotten as I always do....it's Father's Day....and as our whole family went out to dinner our son said that this was his Father's Day gift....another surprise....and we all visited my father-in-law....our son's grandfather....(and we will do so again today).....because the whole family is giving him 24/7 care at this point in his his life....and I never once said to him....Happy Father's Day....because it never entered my mind. Why?
The chief responsibility of fathers....in my mind anyway....is raising the children in the grace and admonition of the Lord. The eternal souls of their children are in their hands. This should be front and center in their minds every day of their lives....that their children know and love Jesus Christ. With this ingrained in me so much....it apparently is impossible for me to let our modern concept of Father's Day enter my mind without having to be reminded.
The Winslow Boy....the 1999 David Mamet film....is my second favorite film of all time. It is the story of a father's defense of his son who had been wrongly accused of a petty crime while at school....this being London in the early 20th century...and the school a prestigious one....and the punishment expulsion.....but as much as I love this movie for the portrayal of a father's love for his son....it was never a joyful movie to me....maybe happy in a way....but never joyful....for the Christian faith of the Winslow family was borderline at best.....and the father who sacrificed greatly to clear his son......nevertheless failed him utterly in the most important thing of all....placing Christ before him every day of his life.
These things can be separated....American patriotism and our Christian faith can be separated.....but we in the church in America have failed here also. So yes tomorrow is indeed Father's Day in a way...but that father is God the Father. If the current popular opinion on the Fourth Commandment is correct....then I have missed a lot of good golf and NFL football....but if it is not correct.....the implications being that by not honoring the Lord's Day we have in our nation effectively cut down a hedge of protection that God had graciously given us....then America is what it is today in no small part because we ourselves failed.....we failed to be vigilant in our Christian faith....and thus we failed our families. The same thing applies to being 'born again'....for are in essence gamblers....we are confident that we are probably good on the cards that we are holding. We don't really even listen to what those old time Christians tell us about having to be regenerated....for we looked at our cards....two kings....good works and fair to other people....they look like probable winners.....so we'll go with them....and thus we go with them for our children also....only to find that God requires perfection....not just two kings....and perfection comes only in the righteousness imputed to the one who has been.....'born again.'
