Rad Dad!Sample

How has becoming a father changed your perspective on a Father’s love for his children?

Every kid my wife and I brought into the world felt like about 957 feet of pure vert. Being a dad comes with a lot of risk, leaning in, and potential pain. Not just will they fall and break their arm, but will they keep their eyes on Jesus? Will they stumble into the wrong friends? Will they make a major life-altering mistake? Will some freak-accident or disease take them too soon?

Being a dad is saying “yes” to God's call to care for a life you can't control. It's stepping into a path you can't pave and fathering a faith you can't save. Saying yes to being a dad is saying no to the lie that says you're in charge of what happens next. That's not too different from Jesus calling Peter to walk on water. It's Proverbs asking you to lean not on your own understanding. That's David staring down Goliath and my nine-year-old studying an 11-foot drop like it's seventh-grade pre-algebra.

He didn't drop-in that day. I walked over to him, looked in his eyes, patted his back, and cheered him on just for trying.

A year later he's ten and he and his brother have somehow got me skating, too. And my wife, and our other three kids. And our friends, and their parents, and our neighbors. That's what courage does. It loves others out of their fear and into faith-filled living.

John the Apostle was talking about what Jesus does for us when He said, "perfect love casts out fear." And He's right. It's love that gets me out of bed early almost every Saturday to get my kids to the Skatepark. And it was a whole year of that kind of love that put my ten year old back on top of that 11-footer a few months ago. And it was that infectious, courageous, love that drew his little brother to the 8-footer. And it was love that nearly made me lose my lunch watching them say yes to gravity, no to control, and lean into the drop of their lives. In what ways are you ready to lean in as a Dad?

Pray and ask God how you might be hanging onto control and how you can lean into Him and His courageous love instead.

- Jason Inman | Director of Content Creation