A Cat Named Pinky

In our relationship with God, we must realize there is a difference between the spiritual world and our physical world.

Although the bible clearly states, in Matthew 16:19, “Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”. There is a difference in how we see ourselves on earth and how God sees us in the spirit.

When I was a very small child my oldest sister Fern, as I recall, brought home a cat. This cat was a grey brindle with four white feet and a very pink nose. Based on what she saw, my sister named this cute little kitten Pinky.

It was fully her intention for this little kitten to be her playmate. He was to cuddle with her, play dress up, help her make mud pies, have dinner engagements, all the things little girls do.

Unfortunately, deep in the DNA of little Pinky lay and 18 pound, six toed behemoth that had an uncontrollable urge to roam and dominate.
He undoubtedly had a very nasty disposition when it came to other cats, dogs, coyotes, snakes, and just about every other animal the Arizona desert presented him.

I remember well into my teens, Pinky would saunter off into the desert often for months at a time. He would return, sometimes six to eight months later wearing the scars and licking the wounds of his most recent campaign.

The name my sister gave this cat was Pinky, but God knew this cat as something altogether different.

As fathers, it is extremely important we know what is in our DNA. We must know of what we are made. We must define our life in such a way as to live and worship in alignment with how God made us.

Pinky’s life was in conflict with how my sister envisioned he would be. He was wild at heart, but somehow my sister came to accept that. She accepted him when he returned, nursed his wounds, cuddled with him, loved him, wept and prayed for him when he walked back off into his world.

One such day, Pinky, sauntered off into the Arizona desert and never returned. He was found not far from our home and was buried with great respect in our back yard pet cemetery.

If we expect to be the best father we can be, we can’t be like Pinky and wander off into a secret world away from our family and loved ones, but we must examine the callings we have in our spirit and ask God to help us use them for his Kingdom and to help us be a better father and husband.

We must earnestly seek God, that He might reveal to us the make up of our spiritual DNA and thus our true nature. I ask you to seek God to find out………. by what name does God know you?

En servicio como Padre
Dave

True Warriors Wear Pink

A few days ago, I happened to wear a very nice pink shirt to the office.  As I settled in to begin the day, a coworker walked past my office; “Good morning Dave” was his greeting, to which I gave an equally cheery retort.  “I takes a real man to wear pink”, were his next words.

 I’ve heard those words before, most often in jest, a kind of friendly banter between men that seems to happen any time more than one man is present in the same place.  This time, though, the words pricked something in me that caused me to ponder the concept as a father.

 It’s not one of those macho things.  I’ve long ago learned there is little in that mind set that really helps a father be what he is meant to be.  It caused me to ask myself; what sets you, as a father, apart from other men?

 It is often in man’s nature to be competitive.  Competition is valued in society today.  The more competitive you are the better the chance to be successful in business.  It is the mantra of the millennial man.  Competition often defines who the world thinks we are. 

 It can’t be all bad.  After all, it is that competitive spirit that helped early man feed and protect his family, but competition only takes a father so far.  At some point, the competition, if too strong, begins to tear away at the relationships with a father’s children and even with his spouse. 

 I have known several men in my years who could rightly be described as a giant.  These men were all over 6 feet 9 inches tall and were imposing in their very presence.  Some were fathers others were married, with no children, and all were noticed when the entered any room.  Today, I still have contact with a couple of them but it is not their sheer size that would cause me to set them apart as a father.  An equally large woman would likely be just as imposing but probably could not be described as a father.  I have known great fathers who were as short as these men were tall.

 My position in life has given me the opportunity to meet many men who have been very successful in their selected career field.  These men are entrusted with large sums of money or large segments of a company.  They have shown their ability to understand business and to encourage others to follow the mission they have conveyed.  They are eloquent in their speech and adept at getting their point across in a manner that is accepted by their most ardent opposition.  Some lead hundreds, others thousands as they guide their company along the road to success.  They are successful by almost any standard but that alone doesn’t set them apart as a father.

 Fatherhood is by all accounts a battle.  When their child is born, a father begins to fight against everything that would attempt to harm or negatively influence his child.  Sometimes the battles are perceived and some are misinterpreted but others are very real.

 The warrior father stands between every potential danger and at the same time guards the pathways to a child’s heart.  He alone holds a secret entrance that can only be unlocked by the keys of influence.  As a child watches their father the influence key unlocks understanding and a child grows in knowledge and stature.

 Clarence Budington Kelland, the American writer of the 20’s, most noted for his fiction and short stories published in magazines of the time, explained it best when he described his father with the following:

 “He didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it”. Clarence Budington Kelland

 Proverbs 4:1-4 describes the power of influence the warrior father has with his child;

1.Listen, friends, to some fatherly advice; sit up and take notice so you’ll know how to live.2.I’m giving you good counsel; don’t let it go in one ear and out the other.3.When I was a boy at my father’s knee, the pride and joy of my mother,4.

He would sit me down and drill me: “Take this to heart. Do what I tell you – live!  (The message)

 The warrior father is differentiated by the tenacity by which he fights for what he loves and by the compassion which he metes upon his family.  The child of the warrior father learns by his example and in the long run recognizes that it really does take a real man to wear pink.

En servicio como padre

Dave