Fathers' Day 2017 reflections

Greetings to my loyal blog readers as well as to those who are stumbling across my blog or this post for the first time. Today I am particularly motivated to post because of receiving encouragement both from secular readings and a sermon to embrace who I am and to share. Today's post is a reflection that also celebrates fathers and encourages fathers to embrace and share their emotions and even the emotional challenges they face as they father in the 21st century.

Going to church on June 17, 2017 with my children was indeed an emotional experience, as I woke up with the accuser of brethren attacking me for my fertility and trying to persuade me to sterilize. My economic and career struggles were raised before me, and the only defense I had was that one day I would see the fruit of all the struggles, and if not in this life, in the life to come. The accuser of the brethren then attacked my faith by telling me that Jesus has not returned yet and that he even declared that some of his disciples would not taste death until he returned (Matthew 16:28). This, the accuser said, did not come to pass as all the known disciples of Jesus at the time have perished and the world has gone on since. In fact, the accuser then said, by the scriptures, God said we know if a prophet is true if what he foretells comes to pass (Deuteronomy 18:22). This would then make Jesus a false prophet. In silence, I endured the accuser's torment with my only defense being that I did not know what was referred to when Jesus said he would come into his kingdom in that verse.

When I arrived, after taking my four children on the bus, I thought to myself how the culture and era discouraged parents from having children and rather encouraged them to focus on their careers or vocation. Society speaks saying that  "Thou shalt have children but only if you have 2 and no more and only if you have the resources and career to support them. Anything outside of this is forbidden." Further, society invokes another law that "Thous shalt use intrusive technologies and man-made devices to curtail your fertility so that you can dive down into your career and supply your family with abundant material things and meet their economic wants".

Twenty-first century's culture encourages men and fathers to give more to their jobs than they do to their families. Especially in Jamaican culture, where even the place where I work does not have paternity leave. But as I meditate on the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, I realize that God wants me as a father to play more than just an economic role. God wants me to play a teaching and educational role, supplying my children with home education and traditions where I transmit my values, knowledge, and experiences to them. A case in point is Solomon, who I feel had a lot of his wisdom coming from what his father, David, passed on to him and not just from his answered prayer. When I read the book of Proverbs I hear Solomon telling me to pay careful attention to fatherly instruction (Proverbs 1:8). Which I somehow feel that it is David's instruction to Solomon that guided him in making early decisions (1 Kings 2) before the wise decision to ask God for wisdom later on (1 Kings 3).

As I listened to the sermon, Elder Cameron Munro, who served as God's mouthpiece, got me to reflect on instances where Jesus stated and expressed how he felt. The message to me was clear. Be real about my predicament. It is okay for me as a father and a man to state how I feel. There are times and seasons for me as a father to be emotional, cry, embrace my children and communicate my emotions to them. Jesus did this and modeled this for us. He wept and expressed his emotions. He even told people when he was thirsty and needed a drink (despite participating in the creation, according to Colossians 1:15-16, and being able to work miracles including turning water into wine). Imagine, Jesus the miracle worker, made his need for water known to human beings? 

Elder Munro stated that Jesus put on humanity so that we do not have to put on pretense. We don't always, as men or fathers, need to pretend that we are tough and that we have everything under control. But we can be honest when we are going through difficulties and share this with others around us including our children.

My 2014 Rosh Hashanah/Feast of Trumpets reflections: Part 1

This season of the feast of 2014 Rosh Hashanah or Feast of Trumpets, I sought the message from God. On this occasion, the message came from several experiences and events that helped to reveal to me the spiritual lessons. In this post, I summarise the events and experiences and the lessons I drew from them regarding God's will/purpose for me.

Event/Experience 1: An email message from Sid Roth 

So I subscribe to Sid Roth, because occasionally I might hear an interesting program now and then. But to get to the point, my wife and I watched and listened to his Rosh Hashanah message, which is also an appeal for us to donate money to his program/ministry. What was particularly interesting to me about the message was the story related by Roth (2014) about a woman being taken to heaven by large two angels. These two angels, on their way with the woman to heaven, began to experience difficulties in lifting her. They then pointed out that it was not their fault, but it was because of her sins. Roth (2014) then goes on to mention that for this new year, we need to make some changes, including dropping habits and sins that we might have been comfortable with in the previous year,

Event/Experience 2:

The next morning, my wife tells me her dream. She indicates that she felt God convicting her to stop playing a certain Facebook game.

Event/Experience 3:

In the same day, I participated in the review of some programs at Western University with external reviewers with the purpose of seeking ways for the programs to improve and confirm that the programs were indeed faultless.

The lessons revealed:

So I ask God in my mind, what is it that I am to learn from all these as well as "what is your sermon or message to me for this Rosh Hashanah season?" The message I received:

1. God wants me to grow. Things or sins that I was comfortable with prior to Rosh Hashanah, I must now let go off. Especially if I want to live with God.
2. Just as how universities review programs to determine how to improve them, the same principle applies with God, God desires continuous improvement in his followers or believers. We are to grow and keep on growing in the faith and producing more abundant spiritual fruit.

Conclusion:

To grow, I must let go off sins I once cherished. I can't say "but I am a much better person today than I was 10 years ago!" That will not cut it. I cannot excuse my current sins by arguing that such sins are not as bad as how I was years ago. God doesn't want me to stop growing. He doesn't want me stuck in the past. He wants annual growth and improvement and annual shedding of sins. He wants perfection, and he wants us to annually shed sins and grow towards such perfection.



References:

Roth, S. (2014). Rosh Hashanah 2014 — Jewish new year. Sid Roth's It's Supernatural! Retrieved from http://sidroth.org/rosh-hashanah-2014?src=eappeal092414