Snippets on fathers by The Rev. Timothy O Olonade During 2019 Fathers’ Day Celebrations @St Luke Cathedral, Jos
Philip said to Jesus, “show us the Father, and it will be enough for us. John 14:8
The search for a true father or real Dad is not a modern quest. When true fatherhood is discovered home becomes a haven just as God intended when he initiated home.
Becoming a father is a simple shot at impregnating a female. Being a father however is a life time calling and service. You won’t graduate till you die, no matter how old the children get. If you don’t want to BE then don’t BECOME.
Dad’s Basic Homework
▪ Every father should be his daughter’s first boy friend
▪ Every father should be his son’s first comrade
â–Ş Every father should be the closest symbol of the Fatherhood of God
â–Ş As you want to see your daughter treated that’s the way to treat her mum?
â–Ş One of the legacies a father could give his children is to love their mother.
DAD is not just a word, but an acronym:
Dependendable like God
Approachable like Jesus
Desirable like Holy Spirit
5 Ways Real Dads Operate: to sheild their homes and raise children who will stand tall, firm and possibly lonesome in a crowded world.
â–Ş Be a model for your family so that when your daughter is been wooed she has high standard to demand from who ever.
 Be a warrior for your family, take a stand and fight to defend your household against all aggressions.
â–Ş Be a your family marketer or the image maker of your home; never run down any member of your family no matter their failings.
â–Ş Be a cheerleader for your family by celebrating every accomplishment
â–Ş Be the judge of your family – administer truth, fairness and Justice in matters.
Two more things to note:
â–Ş Pronounce fatherly prophetic blessings upon your family regularly to set the tone for their destiny/future Gen 49:1,2
 Never surrender the control and influence of your family to someone else; it is your first job/call as you walk with God.
Nothing is as demanding and as fulfilling as being the father God wants you to be. Do it well, all your lifetime.
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JARA – By Dike Chukwumerije
My father did not know how to say, ‘I miss you terribly’. But he drove me to every swimming lesson, every taekwondo class, and every entrance exam I ever wrote as a child.
He came on every visiting day in junior secondary school, and never forgot to write a curt inspirational note in every birthday card.
He sat by me through every admission in the hospital, and was never late in paying my school fees. Whenever I failed, he told me in a hard voice to try again. Whenever I cried and said, ‘You don’t love me daddy’, he said, ‘You will not know until I am gone.’
When he suffered, he kept it to himself, and never laid any part of his cross on me. But whenever I suffered, he stayed up all night in prayer, and went out in the morning to find a solution, knowing that when he came back home I would be fast asleep and would never know enough to truly feel grateful.
He did not hug me a lot. But he protected me always, shielded me always, and gave me everything within his power to give to ensure that when he was no longer here I could stand firm in the gap, and take us into the Future.
Yes. Fathers like this are going out of fashion. But as we become more emotionally expressive in line with modern trends let it not be at the expense of our role as load bearing pillars and destiny defining foundations in the lives of our children.
Because our job is not to make best friends of them. No. Our job is to raise human beings with a functional moral compass, who will bend in the storm, yes, but not break.
And if in the process of having some steel inserted into their spines they become our friends as well, then that, my friends, is what we Nigerians call ‘jara’.
Happy Father’s Day.
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FATHERHOOD: a GRACE, a MINISTRY and a BLESSING
By Sam Kputu
Genesis 18:19 – “For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him”
Malachi 4:6 “And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction”
Proverbs 20:7 – “The lovers of God will walk in integrity, and their children are fortunate to have godly parents as their examples”. (The Passion Translation)
_Proverbs 22:6 – “Dedicate your children to God and point them in the way that they should go, and the values they’ve learned from you will be with them for life”. (The Passion Translation)
Prov 17:6 “Grandparents have the crowning glory of life: grandchildren! And it’s only proper for children to take pride in their parents”. (The Passion Translation)
