Dad Or Pop

Whether you call him Dad or Pop it is a palindrome. Palindrome is a word coined in the 1600’s by English writer Ben Jonson and is a word that is spelled the same forward and backwards. The first known palindrome was a Latin phrase discovered in 79AD: "Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas". This is known as the Sator square, since it can be written out as a five x five square and is the same whether read across the squares or down. So, whether you called him Dad or Pop at some point you probably thought he was a square! But if you are like most of us you discovered like Mark Twain did, “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years.” Yes, my Dad was and is the wisdom that I return to time and time again. You see, I promised myself as a youth that I would never say to my children the things that my Dad said… like: You call that music –that’s just a bunch of noise or You’ll understand more when you get my age. But I did and I suspect that they will too. All this brings me to the forward and backward point I wanted to make about Dad.

The legacy of our fathers, the faith of our fathers, the resonate voice of our fathers is that life must be lived consistently. Oh, we will all fail and oft find ourselves exposed by our hypocrisy. But what will prove the depth of our faith and the value of our word will be our effort to be the same whether going forward or backward. Good Dads say what they mean and mean what they say. They’re not afraid to apologize when they are wrong or put their foot down when they’re right. They are known for their mercy but respected for their rules. Their bark is never worst than their bite because if you are going to get a chewing out it’s going to leave marks. But it is those very marks that have formed our honesty and shaped our compassion. Like our heavenly Father our Dads have grounded our souls.

I know some of you have not had a Father around or that the Dad that held your family hostage with his tyranny or his addiction was far from the image of our heavenly Father but I also know that you have met godly men that you wish were your Dad. God chooses to reveal himself as “Father” because consistent Dads who are the same forward and backwards are not only a blessing but vital to a fallen world that needs their strength and their wisdom. So, thanks Dad or Pop for all you do and all that you are! -DAN