A salute to Dads

Shortly after the Ethiopian Civil War ended in 1991, I flew into Addis Ababa to speak to pastors from around the country. I’ll never forget what I saw on the trip from the airport to the compound where I was to stay; the streets seemed to be filled with dozens of one-legged men walking along the dusty roads.

When I asked what had caused this, I was told it was from stepping on landmines during the war. They lacked “minesweepers” to walk before them with the tools to detect and caution them to avoid the brutal land mines.

June is the month we celebrate “Father’s Day” in honor of those men who have gone before us, and in many ways have served as “minesweepers” protecting us from the dangers ahead of us. The dangers facing kids today are just as real. The Bible reminds us that, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Erwin Lutzer, the long-time pastor of Moody Church, warned parents about the intensified battle their kids face when he wrote:

“Parents – and I include most Christian parents – no longer raise their children. Rather culture does – most significantly, through the Internet. Like one mother said to me, ‘I didn’t know that when I gave my 13-year-old daughter a cellphone, I might as well have given her her first shot of heroin.’

As a nation, we have submitted our minds to electronic devices that now shape our thinking and provide endless entertainment. Parents clothe their children, feed them, and send them to school, but the hearts of their kids are being stolen and molded by a world that many of us don’t understand.”

Following are some actions for dads to take in order to protect their precious children as they stray into the perilous mine fields of life:

Listen to your kids.

Get involved in their school and education.

Shelter them from known dangers.

Get to know their friends and parents.

Attend a church with genuine programs for children and youths.

Remember that nothing is more confusing than parents who give good advice but set a bad example.

Be available when they need you.

Don’t be afraid that your children will get angry with you for protecting them.

Above all, make sure you share your faith with them.

As early as 1941, Walter Lippman recognized what the children were facing and warned parents that: “Day after day young people are subjected to the bombardment of naturalism with all of its animosity to Christianity. In the formative years of their lives, or at least during the period of their education when

their ideas are crystallizing, they must listen and absorb these ideas of man, the world and religion.”

In Deuteronomy 6, God stressed the importance of parents sharing their faith with their children: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.