Old Testament: Father's Cathechism

Exodus 12: 26-27 “And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the LORD who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’” And the people bowed low and worshiped.”

Exodus 13:14-15 “And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ then you shall say to him, ‘With a powerful hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. It came about, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore, I sacrifice to the LORD the males, the first offspring of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’”

Deuteronomy 6:20-25 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the LORD our God commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand. Moreover, the LORD showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household; He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers. So the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is it is today. It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us.’”

Joshua 4:6-7 “Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.’”

Joshua 4:21-24 “He said to the sons of Israel, ‘When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground. For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the LORD your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed; that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may fear the LORD your God forever.’”

The Hebrew term “father” has its origin in childish speech (pronounced aba).[1] The emotions of those Hebrew fathers listening to their children pronounce their names for the first time are no different than the emotions of fathers today. If you are like me with your child, you hang on to every word and action of your little one. I can sit next to our couch and can remain totally captivated by my daughter’s coos. What is more amusing is when I talk back to her in her own language. I believe my wife is more enthralled with my baby talk than she is with our daughter’s. I try to capture every new movement that she makes with our camcorder, and I am obsessed with a camera. There is not a position or angle that I can’t take with a camera.

Fathers will often tell me how they remember every little detail of when their children were babies and can often describe in detail each moment. I wonder what our children would say about their first memories of their dads. Were they workaholics who lived and breathed their jobs everyday? Or were they couch potatoes who never relinquished the remote control and knew all the scores of the latest games? Or will they remember a dad who taught them about God and His Word? Their lives exhibited a life of holiness and they set an example of what it means to follow God with all of your heart.

The previous verses are examples of fathers who were instructed to teach their children about the work of God in Israel. The Exodus verses (12:26-27; 13:14-15) center on the Passover where God delivered his children from the bondage and slavery of Egypt. The verse in Deuteronomy (6:20-25) elaborate on the first commandment, that is, not worship any false gods or idols. In the Joshua passages (4:6-7, 21-24), another important event occurred in the history of Israel. When the Israelites entered into the Promise Land, they established a memorial made from the rock of the river bed as a perpetual symbol of the faithfulness of God.
[1] Gottfried Quell, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. V. Ed. Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich. Trans. By Geoffrey W. Bromiley, 960.

O' Father!

“When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.” -William Shakespeare

“The most important thing that a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”- Theodore M. Hesburgh

“Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.” -Ecclesiasticus, 44:1

“A man's children and his garden both reflect the amount of weeding done during the growing season.”- Author Unknown

My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.- Clarence B. Kelland

“It is a wise father that knows his own child.”-William Shakespeare

“To become a father is not hard, to be a father is, however.”- Wilhelm Busch

“A wise son maketh a glad father.” Proverbs 10:1

“It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was.”- Anne Sexton

South Carolina Heritage

You know you are from South Carolina when...

• You measure distance in minutes.


• You've ever had to switch from heat to air conditioning in the same day.


• You see a car running in a store parking lot with no one in it no matter what time of the year.


• You use "fix" as a verb. Example: I am fixing to go to the store.


• All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect or animal.


• You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.


• You carry jumper cables in your car... for your OWN car.


• You know what "cow tipping" is.


• You only own four spices: salt, pepper, Texas Pete and catsup.


• The local papers cover national and international news on one page and six pages for local gossip and sports.


• Your think that the first day deer season is a national holiday.


• You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit "a little warm."


• You know all four seasons: almost summer, summer, still summer, and Christmas.


• Going to Wal-mart is a favorite past time known as "Goin' wal-martin" or "Off to ' Wally World'."


• You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good pinto-bean weather.


• A carbonated soft drink isn't a soda, cola, or pop...it's a Coke, regardless of brand or flavor. Example: "What kinna coke you want?"


• Fried Catfish is the other white meat.


• You know if another South Carolinian is from the Low Country, the Sand Hills, or the Piedmont section of South Carolina, as soon as they open their mouth.

And the greatest of these...

"God wants us to be courageous people who are deeply bothered by the horrors of living as part of a fallen race, people who look honestly at every struggle, who feel overwhelmed by what we see, yet emerge prepared to live. Scarred, still troubled, but deeply loving. When the fact is faced that life is profoundly disappointing, the only way to make it is to learn to love."



Larry Crabb, Inside Out, 19.

Operation Overlord- June 6, 1944

"Soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the great crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you!"

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

Supreme Allied commander

Leading Through Reflection

Charged with heresy and sentenced to die through lethal ingestion, Socrates boldly stood before his accusers and stated, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” Much of what we know about Socrates is through the writings of his protégé, Plato. Because of his reputable work in both moral and political philosophy, which has become the basis for Western philosophy, Socrates contributed a major factor in theoretical reasoning. Known as the Socratic Method, or dialectical technique, Socrates interacted with many philosophers of the day by refuting their position on any doctrine or teaching. Once a philosopher introduced a principle, Socrates offered a series of rebuttals to discover their underlining beliefs and continue with a verbal assault to prove their lack of knowledge.(Wikipedia; Philosophypages; Stanford)

Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:7-8

“Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” A phrase for every Christian leader. The writer of Hebrews prompts us to bear in mind those who have lived before us. As we reflect and study their lives, we will do well to follow in their footsteps as they pursued our Lord. We will face the same obstacles as they did; however, our challenges will be masked in different garments. In his book, The Making of a Leader, J. Robert Clinton suggests that the lessons learned from our predecessors will reveal patterns and themes which will benefit many leaders to come. He writes, “Leadership is a lifetime of lessons. It is not a setoff do-it-yourself correspondence courses that can be worked through in a few months or years. In our attempt to ‘think back on how they lived and died,’ we will learn to analyze these lessons...we will see various patterns emerge that will indicate the many ways God developed and strengthened leaders in the past for their particular leadership roles. We can profit from both how God developed them and what God taught them. As we apply these lessons to our lives, we will be imitating their faith” (40).

Meaning of Christian Leadership

Christian leadership is a misconstrued term in the church. Often linked with a persona or an accomplishment, Christian leadership loses its luster because its focus ends with the final form rather than the quest. This is not to say that there are no good Christian leaders in the world, but how often do we see the billboard of someone’s achievements without understanding the amount of time and toil involved in developing godly character. To pen a definition of leadership is nearly impossible because of its complex and multifaceted nature.

Godly leadership can be compared to an iceberg. Most of the makeup of a leader lies below the water. The ten percent above the water manifests itself through action, behavior, and decision making. All of these outward expressions are a direct result from the motivations, beliefs, and values of a leader that has developed over a period of time. Though not directly written about leadership, a quote from his book, The Complete Green Letters, Miles J. Stanford illustrates the point how external actions do not necessarily correlate with inward growth:

Important as it is, service is often a condition-centered detriment in the lives of many zealous believers. When service is given predominance over fellowship with and growth in the Lord Jesus, doing, instead of being, takes over in the life. Fellowship and growth must ever take precedence over service and activity, otherwise spiritual declension sets in. In this reversal of God’s order for us, the heart seeks satisfaction and a sense of acceptance through production (law), instead of reception (grace). Bible study and prayer, as well as one’s outlook, become almost exclusively service-centered. Instead of bringing forth service, service becomes the life (91).