Dads Rock

I’ve been thinking lately about what’s required to be truly amazing. There is a lot of confusion about this. For example, someone who jumps from a tall rock into a lake is not as amazing as a guy who parachutes out of a plane. How can we effectively rate these men in a way that makes sense? To address this overwhelming problem (I am clearly prone to hyperbole), I came up with the “Amazing Guy Scale”:

• If you can watch all three of the “Lord of the Rings videos” in one sitting, you get a 3.85 (if it’s the directors cut, add 1.5 )
• If you can survive in the woods for a week with only a knife, you get a 6.5 
• If you can build a metal suit that flies, I give you a 7.5 

If you are a father and your family knows you are the safest, never-gonna-leave guy, and if you are the “I am here to rescue and protect my family no matter the cost” guy—you are a high-scoring Amazing Guy! If you will have tap water tea parties with your little girl and sit through entire school plays just to see your son be a mushroom for three minutes—I give you a solid 9.3. In the news, we typically hear about the bad stuff—the guys who did it totally wrong. But I would like to swing the spotlight on the dads who do it right.

I know men in this church who have stopped doing addictive, selfish, and harmful things so they can properly take care of their wives and kids. It’s really hard to fight an addiction. It was hard the first day they started, and it has been hard every day since. But they wake up, surrender to God, and order their lives day in and day out so they can be a godly man, a good dad, and a loving husband. They are Amazing Guys!

I know men who were not raised well by their own parents. These men have chosen to humble themselves and learn how to do life better, how to lead their families in a different, biblical, and more sacrificial way. Their instincts are totally opposed to being a good dad, but they are fighting it. They are changing. They are spending time with other men and learning how to be a godly man, because they didn’t learn it at all from their own dads. These guys are simply not gonna let that happen to another generation of their family. They are Amazing Guys!

I know men who grew up spiritually shallow, never really interested in following God, but because of some event or crisis, they woke up and realized that they were made for more than this world. These men came to see they have the power to point their own kids to God in ways they never experienced themselves growing up. They’ve made it their job to help their kids and wife learn to love God with everything they have, and some of these guys even make it fun and exciting along the way. They are Amazing Guys!

If you’re not this kind of dad but want to become one, shoot me an e-mail. I’ll buy you lunch and introduce you to some of these people. Don’t settle for that flying suit of metal; let’s do more. Let’s be good dads. Let’s be Amazing Guys!

There really are good dads out there. I know because I know them personally. If you are recovering, fighting for your family, struggling to rescue and protect your family, and guiding them to love God—well, on the “Amazing Guy Scale” I give you a solid 10.

Happy belated Father’s Day. Drop the mic. Walk off the stage.