Liberty Begins At Home

Fatherhood has its challenges. But sometimes the biggest rewards come in the smallest ways.

It was the eve of Father’s Day as my family sat around wondering what to do. My eldest daughter wanted to watch I Still Believe.

Now, we have 5 kids in the house. And our movie choices tend toward keeping my 3-year old son entertained. But Father’s Day fell on her birthday this year, so I humored her.

Of course, when you put on a movie with complex themes for little eyes, questions follow. Ones you may not be prepared to answer.

And as Jeremy Camp’s wife’s health declined in the movie, those questions came like a flood.

”What’s happening to her, Daddy?”

“Is that what happened to my brother?”

“Daddy…are you Santa Claus?”

This lazy Saturday just made me put on my big boy pants. My family needed me.

When you want the truth, ask big

These moments aren’t something they tell you on the job description for being a dad.

My son had a lot going on in his little mind because a lot happened in the past year.

We survived a hurricane that knocked out our electricity for 11 days.

I changed jobs, again, to something better paying and better suited to my skill level. Yet we still found ourselves digging into our savings.

We’ve even struggled with grief over losing a pregnancy. After waiting 3 years of not being able to afford another.

As much as we’ve worked to provide a stable base for our kids to grow from, trials keep coming to knock us off course.

My son was wondering why. And he looked to me to make sense of it.

The value in answering honestly

A big part of my responsibilities are to make sure my kids can fend for themselves in the world.

And to do that, I often need to lead by example. Especially when the family has worked through a lot in the last year.

So I engaged with my son. I let him know it’s times like what he’s seeing in the movie that God calls us home to Him because He loves us.

I told him it was the same for the little brother he wouldn’t meet in this world.

And, even though he’s a 3-year-old struggling with big questions, he seemed to understand.

Enjoying the happy endings

We kept watching the movie. In one of the last scenes, KJ Apa plays I Still Believe to a crowded beach concert. Strumming his guitar up to the last verse, he’s so overwhelmed remembering the loss of his wife that he has to choke back tears to finish.

It pulled a common thread tying our stories together. Even though the movie’s ended on a stage and mine at the dinner table.

Fatherhood is keeping your head up and engaging with your kids when you’re tired from work. Or that you find ways to make the important things happen.

And still show them you love them through it all.

So feed their inquisitive nature with truth, even when the questions are hard. It’s those small actions that turn out to be the most rewarding.

(In case you’re wondering, I’m still letting him figure out Santa Claus on his own 😉)

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