Father's Day

Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long since my last post.  Life gets a bit hectic with a new job and a newborn.  But that brings me to the topic tonight, Father's Day.  I sit  here on the eve of my first "real" Father's Day (even though I see the boys has my own and have celebrated with them in the past this is my first technical Father's Day) and I think back to how I always knew that I wanted to be a Dad.  There were a lot of things I wanted to be through the years but the one thing that remained constant was having a family.  And now as I sit here watching my amazing wife play with my beautiful daughter, there's no better sound than Piper laughing in the background while I write.  In the last few years having Steph and the boys in my life I have come to realize that being a father is not all fun and games.  There are tough times where you have to be strict, there are times when you have to be a shoulder to cry on, there are times when you just plain get to have fun, and there are times when you get to step back and say "man I am so proud of you".  I can't help but think about how our Heavenly Father does those exact things for us.  Sometimes He steps on your toes a bit to make you realize what you are doing is probably not in your best interest.  He is ALWAYS there when we are struggling and need a shoulder to cry on ( more on that in a minute).  He puts us in situations where we can have so much fun we can hardly stand it.  And last but certainly not least, He watches over us and says "man I am so proud of you".  I think a lot of men really miss the boat trying to be so many different things for their kids, when really all you have to do is be like our Heavenly Father.  I've found that more and more every day as I grow in my relationship with Him and start to really listen to Him when He speaks to me, I become a better father at the same time.  If you've read my couple posts to this point you know that I always try to tie in an actual story from my life and be totally transparent, so here goes I'm gonna lay it all out there.  I couple of days ago at work I got a message from Steph that the boys were going to have to go spend the night with their dad on Father's Day, meaning my time with them would be cut big time.  I was crushed, I felt like I had been punched in the gut.  The devil immediately started throwing thoughts in my head about how I'm not really their dad so it's only right that they should go with him, he's the better dad anyway.  So I let it play over and over in my head and to be honest spent most of my ride home crying.  Then something awesome happened I realized I needed two things, I needed to be at church and I needed my brothers to pray over and with me.  So after our Wednesday night service i pulled aside a good friend and our Youth Pastor and laid it all on the table.  It's unbelievably freeing to be able to have people that care about you that can listen to you and then they are obedient to what The Lord is saying to them about your situation.  The first thing that came out of that conversation was a line that I will never forget...."Fatherhood is not a position it's a calling".  Sometimes I get caught up in the "position" and I forget the "calling".  Without a doubt God has called me to be a father to these boys and to my beautiful little girl.  He wants me to show these boys (young men) what being a man of God is and how a relationship centered in Christ is the only kind that is worth anything.  When my time is up here and I stand before God He isn't going to ask about my position here, He is going to ask how I used the calling He put on my life.  Personally I want Him to look at me and say "man I am so proud of you".  There is really nothing better than a father that is proud of you!  I also want to take a moment to say how unbelievably proud of Kaden, Reece, and Piper I am!  They, along with the woman of my dreams, have been the best thing that I could ever hope and dream for in this lifetime!  So I wish all of you Father's out there a Happy Father's Day....and don't forget "Fatherhood is not a position, it's a calling"