4741716
9781416534013
Chapter One Making History Dad, your children are watching you! They see and hear whatyou tell them and what you model to them through your life.Don't hide me from them. Tell them of all of thepraiseworthy things I've done throughout history and in yourlife. Tell them of my power and my wonders. Teach them to puttheir trust in me and not to forget my commandments. In turn,they will teach and model them to their children. You are makinghistory! Love, Your 100% Faithful Heavenly Father Psalm 78:3-8 Inspirational Message There's something in a man that makes him want to be ahistory-maker - a hero. Most men grow up with grand ideas ofaccomplishing great things. They hold visions of rescuing livesthreatened by fire, winning major battles in a war, influencingthe laws of the land through public office, defending theunderdog in a court case, or finding a cure for cancer. They havea hungry ambition to be a hero who shapes the future. Well, Dad, that's just what you are. Your heroics may notbe recorded in a best-selling novel, a classic movie, or on thecover of a magazine, but your actions are recorded frequently inthe hearts and minds of your children. They record your simple,but heroic, deeds every day. They have pictures in their minds of you smiling in a way thatcommunicated how proud you were of them. They remember the timesyou wiped tears from their red and swollen faces and offeredwords of comfort. They recall how attentively you listened tothem share their pain over failed romances or disappointingfailures. They review pictures of scrimmages in the driveway,dates for dinner, visits to school, unexpected gifts, and lovinghugs. They remember your praying posture beside their bed and thelife-changing instructions that came from your lips. You are a history-maker and a future-shaper of the mostimportant kind. You live on the front pages of the hearts ofthose you love the most. The best things you can give children, next to good habits,are good memories. --Sydney Harris Jump One day I was playing in our backyard with a paint can lid. Itwas before the days of Frisbees - perhaps the inventor ofthe frisbee got his idea from watching the creative genius of achild who, like me, had discovered the amazing flyingpropensities of a paint can lid. I was sailing it into the wind,and as its momentum slowed, the wind would take it higher andhigher and then it would begin its downward and backward glide,and I would try to catch it. Eventually it landed and lodged onthe roof of the chicken coop. I fretted and worried most of theafternoon trying to dislodge it. We had no ladder, and I finallygave up. When my father came home, I met him in the drive-way. Beforehe was out of the car, I began pleading with him to help meretrieve my toy. He put his lunch pail down on the front porch,and we walked around the house together. He assured me that itwas no problem and that we could get it back.