What I Want to Become as a Pastor-Dad

My wife dropped a bombshell on me last night. “If you don’t have time for your children now that they are young, you wont have time for them in the future.”

Parenting is tough. Sean is turning four this September 2009. Fiona just turned one year last July. Another baby is coming out this December.

And my wife did make a strong point last night. Let me confess my sin. Like typical Dads, all we want to do during our free time is to relax from the week’s labor. We want to untangle our busy mind and simply rest from anything that requires our brain to work or our bodies to move. We become couch potatoes on Sundays or in my case - Mondays - our family day.

All that my wife wanted me to do was to spend quality time with my children. Good movies are good - but teaching Sean to play the guitar is even better. Flexing his three year old fingers to hold the crayons right is the best preparation for oil painting. Taking the ball for a three-point shoot in Sean’s four-foot tall basketball ring is much better than playing computer games.

There is something about God’s procreation that teaches us to love and nurture that love. I believe that parenting is discipleship to the very core. And you can only teach if you have enough love. You can only give what you have. Therefore, as parents, the struggle is to be filled with love at all times so you can always have something to share.

Each of us grew with a different family background, childhood experiences, and educational training. When asked about our childhood recollections, what can we improve on our experiences that will make us better parents to the next generation? And in my case - to the next generation pastor’s kids (PK’s).

...to be continued