Faith of Our Fathers

In my opinion, there is no human to human relationship as important to a boy as the relationship between him and his father (or step-father, grandfather, uncle, etc.).  The process of learning while under the guidance of an older, wiser male adult is vital to the male child’s understanding of who he is, who he is suppose to be, what it is he is expected to do, etc.  I’m certainly thinking about this because of Father’s Day but also because of a few discussions I’ve had with friends of mine regarding their relationships with their fathers over the past few months. 

We all come from different backgrounds and have different comfort levels and as I hear these stories and look at these men, men who are making a difference and an impact, I am struck with how much the father relationship still is ingrained in them.  It’s not fair to compare the relationships of my friends and their fathers with my relationship with my Dad, but I cannot really help from doing so.  But more than that it reminds me of how lucky I am to have the relationship I do with my Dad and to be as close to him as I am.  He is my hero in so many ways.  He and Mom led me to the Lord.  He fought in Vietnam.  He risked loving again and married my Mom.  He provided and cared for my brother and I.  He taught in public and private schools teaching biblical principles in an increasing secular place. He is my buddy. He makes me laugh. He is my Dad. 

My father is where I get so much of my personality, more particularly the insane Mattchews-ish personality. He is a fun guy but he is also a tremendous source of calm and strength for me.  When I got in my first car accident my Mom was hysterical but my Dad was calm. I thought he would yell and scream, we are vocal people us Mattchewses, but instead just said he was glad everything was ok and that no one was hurt and that he would be there as quick as he could to get me.  When it was time to go to college he packed up his van and followed me down to Knox-Vegas and helped me.  When my parents left me for the first time that August, he let everyone walk down the hall towards the van and just bear-hugged me and told me to have fun, learn and make the most of this time.  When I wanted to get a condo he helped me. When I wanted to put the condo in my name he helped me.  When I talk about moving and getting an MBA and doctorate and teaching business – he supports me and listens to me.  When I get worried and afraid he reminds me to trust in the Lord he led me to trust.  When I just feel like being silly and cracking jokes he is always right there ready to play along.

I came mighty close to losing my Dad in the summer of 2003 as his brain hemorrhaged and bled.  He was thousands of miles away in Texas and I was in Knox-Vegas, on my knees.  I know how lucky we are to still have him with us and I just can’t forget it.  I guess that thankfulness just needed a place to pour out and today it poured out on my blog.

To all you Dads out there, thanks for what you are doing for your kids. I promise you are making impacts that you will never realize. Seriously:

On a sad note, I did not get to see the Fireflies. The park was packed to Maximum capacity as of 7:15 PM last night.  My friends and I played “Hillbilly Golf” instead and we had a good time.  Pictures will make their way as soon as I get them.

Also, I purchased THEMATTCHEWS.com yesterday evening.  Things are still getting initialized and I am way over my head with all the programming to make it look like a blog, but step one is finished.  Thanks for your input and as soon as THEMATTCHEWS.com is up and running I will let everyone know.

That’s all for now. Thanks for entertaining my Dad musings and I hope you have a great one!

Signing off for now,

The Mattchews