Dear China
Friends,
SCRIPTURES FOR FATHER’S DAY
Father’s Day
celebrates fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers on
society. In the United States the third
Sunday in June has been set aside to honor fathers. Many other countries also celebrate Father’s
Day on this same date as well as on other days.
Father’s Day complements Mother’s Day.
Father’s Day typically involves gift-giving, special dinners and
activities to honor father.
Credit for
establishing Father’s Day goes to Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington. She arranged it as a tribute to her own
father on June 16, 1910. Her father,
William Smart, was a Civil War veteran.
He was widowed when his wife birthed their 6th child. So it was that he was left to raise the
newborn and 5 other children by himself.
In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national
Father’s Day. However, it was not until
1966 that President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation declaring the 3rd
Sunday in June as Father’s Day.
For I have chosen
him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the
way of the Lord by doing
righteousness and justice (Genesis 18:19).
You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today
shall be on your heart. You
shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you
sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when
you rise (Deuteronomy 6:5-7).
Blessed is everyone
who fears the Lord, who walks in
his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be
blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord (Psalms 128:1-4).
Train up a child in
the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs
22:6).
And he will turn the
hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers
(Malachi 4:6).
For children are not
obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children (2
Corinthians 12:14).
Children, obey your
parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is
the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that
you may live long in the land” (Ephesians 6:1-3).
It is for discipline that you have to
endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does
not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in
which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
Besides this, we have had earthly fathers
who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to
the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time
as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share
his holiness. For
the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it
yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by
it (Hebrews 12:7-11).
This Father’s Day I will be traveling to the
California bay area to celebrate my sister Ginger’s 60th wedding
anniversary. My daughter Carolyn will
accompany me there. It will also serve
as a family reunion since we will all be there to celebrate her anniversary. I’m looking forward to seeing my family
members. I trust you enjoy family
celebrations as well.
Your Friend,
Tom Atkinson
