“Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.” (Proverbs 4:1, 2)
Today I’m feeling a bit nostalgic. I guess that’s the word you could use for it. My heart is filled with love this morning because of the time I got to spend with some very dear brothers of mine yesterday.
Sundays, typically, are rushed for most Christians. Especially if you have children. Or are a mother. Or single father. Or pastor. Or have multiple children. Or are a worship leader. The list could go on and on. Sundays, for some reason, are different than any other day of the week. Ah, but yesterday was sweet.
I had the privilege of ministering with my very close brother and most revered pastor friend, Rev. Jim Jacques. I can’t speak for him, but the love I have for Jim is the love that was shared between David and Jonathan. We have known each other now some thirty-plus years and have gone through hell together – both in our personal lives and in our ministries. If I had to portray us with a word picture, I would be the wild stallions out on the open range – untamed, free-spirited, and wild. Pastor Jim, however, would be a bridled ox – strong, determined, yielded and obedient to his Master. Anyone who knows Pastor Jim respects him as a deeply-rooted, powerful man of God.
After church yesterday, his church had a fish fry and fellowship. Normally I would have been “working the room”, talking to everybody, yucking it up, schmoozing – however you want to say it. But yesterday I had brought another good friend of mine along and we sat at the end of the room at a separate table and I was more reserved, which brought me to this moment today. I got to spend some time visiting with two of Pastor’s sons whom I have watched grow up through the years.
They grew up in a Christian home. Pastor was a youth minister when we first met so they were in church practically all the time. Being a PK (pastor’s kid) cannot be easy. They were always under the microscope, always felt the eyes of everyone on them, watching their every move, condemning their every slip up, and judging their parents by their behavior. They watched their father and mother go through horrible life events and, yes, they suffered right alongside their dad. They watched him to see how he would react, how he responded to criticism at the hands of the church, how God would treat him.
We read (and hear) the scripture: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he won’t depart from it.” We have been taught that mainly refers to their younger years – when they are still children living at home, but I propose that is a lifetime commandment. The father will always be the father and the children will always be their father’s children – no matter how old they get. He will always be the one they watch and they will always be able to come to him for advice. He will have, most likely, walked the path before them and be able to give sound advice. That mission, that calling, will never end until he passes from this earthly realm to his eternal reward. Even then they will watch to see how that transition is carried out. Even then in death he will still be training them up in the way they should go.
I listened yesterday as they both shared some of their stories of their dad, their interactions between each other as brothers, and just general fun tales. Yet when they spoke of their father, by brother, they spoke only with the greatest pride and respect. They love their father (still their pastor) and honor him for his life of service to God. Yes, they have seen him suffer at the hands of the “saints”, but they have watched as he walked through those valleys with dignity and godliness. What an awesome testimony to God and what joy that brought me to see and hear in their voices, to see in their eyes, and to feel in their hearts. They have seen that Pastor never gave up on God (although a lot of men would have), they have seen his dedication to serving the kingdom of God, and they have learned what it means to love God and praise Him in all circumstances. It only made me love Pastor more, love God more, and love these, his children, more.
After all, isn’t that what our testimonies are meant to do? To uplift one another, to strengthen one another, to encourage one another, and to reflect glory and honor back to God? All of this had me waking up this morning thinking of my own father, Leroy Todd, and the example he set before me as a man. He was FAR from being the man of God that Pastor Jim is, but he was the man of God placed before me and given the responsibility to raise me. My own father taught me to love God through it all – no matter what people said or did to me or about me, as long as I knew my heart is right with God I can do all things and endure all things. He embodied to me a life of a simple man, a humble man, a blue-collar man who had fought for everything he owned, had worked hard to provide for mom and me, and suffered deep hurts throughout his entire lifetime – yet his love for Jesus only grew deeper and stronger as he aged.
I know it isn’t Father’s Day, but I encourage you, today, to honor your father – let him know how much you respect him and do something to encourage him. Do the same for your pastor. Maybe a quick phone call or email, mail him a card, bake him a pie (cherry is Pastor Jim’s favorite!) - just something to show your appreciation for all he does for you. I pray for you today that God will share even a small measure of the love I’m feeling as I write this, that He will pour out His love in your heart for others. And in your watering, so shall you also be watered.
Be blessed.
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