Arthur Brooks tells a Father’s Day story

Arthur Brooks’ father was a college professor of mathematics who drove a bus in the summer.
“He was a natural born mathematician, though. Here’s a classic dinner conversation:
Dad: “Hey kids, tell me as fast as you can what you get when you sum all the numbers from one to a hundred.”

My brother and I: “We’d need some paper.”

Dad: “Wrong. 1 + 100 = 101. 2 + 99 = 101. 3 + 98 = 101. . . . That’s 50 pairs all summing to 101. 50 x 101 = 5,050!”

Us: “Huh. Please pass the mashed potatoes.”

He died fairly young, at 66, from lymphoma. His doctor said that the median survival age for his diagnosis was at least 10 years, but he died in two. About this he was circumspect. He held a Ph.D. in biostatistics and noted, drily, "Someone has to be on the left tail."

Near the very end of his life, with just a few weeks to live, he was reflecting as a statistician on the life he had been given. “Sometimes I imagine a bargain from God,” he said. “He offers me a choice between dying at 66 with a sure bet that my boys grow up, have happy marriages and good careers, and where I get to meet my grandchildren briefly; or playing the odds on a much longer life but leaving the success of my kids up to chance.”

“I’d take the sure bet every time.”

Honor your parents

For June morning devotions I've been reading the book of Sirach in the Bible. This is one that Martin Luther removed, so I'm not very familiar with it. Most Christians around the world do have this one, however. Anyway, for Father's Day there's a wonderful expansion on the commandment to honor your parents.

Sirach 3:12-13.
My son, take care of your father when he is old;
grieve him not as long as he lives.
Even if his mind fail, be considerate with him;
revile him not in the fullness of your strength.

Isn't that beautiful? I know so many people who have lovingly honored parents in this way. It's definitely not easy.

Another Father's Day essay I like

I've read some really great Father's Day posts this week-end. This one is fabulous--by Ayesha Kreutz, of the Frederick Douglass Foundation.

"I did not really have a father, at least not a good example of one. My biological father was rather terrible, a black panther, liberation theology, guy who turned alcoholic/drug addict and died in his early 60's due to his life style. I had one man in my life who I loved as father but he died when I was about 7/8 or so. I grew up with tremendous issues having every man in my life being abusive in one way or another.

So this God The Father thing was not a safe place for me, not something that resonated as a want or need.

And a good, good Father, well that was not only foreign, but bordered on offensive and laughable.

Well, let me tell you as I gave over myself and submitted to this Father in Heaven, He showed me what it was to be loved and protected and have a Good Father.

So yes Happy Fathers day, I celebrate my Abba, Elohim and I celebrate that I can celebrate, BUT the best part is I was able to allow God to love me, know I was worthy of love and thus allow myself to be loved by my amazing husband and love in return THUS giving my girls what I never had or thought I needed, a father an earthly father who loves and adores them..... yep A home.

So Happy Fathers day to one of the greatest men on earth. My husband and father to my kids.
Thank You Lord, King Jesus.

Happy Fathers Day and thank you to all the men who man up and are fathers (good manly fathers) to their kids, You are irreplaceable.

Praise the Name of Jesus and may the praises of my good good father ever be on my lips."

A Father's Day Tribute to a step-father

By our great niece Erin who posted it on Facebook.

Happy Fathers Day to the love of my life, to the man who CHOSE to love and raise these crazy boys as his own without hesitation, without question, and without ever faltering. I'll never be able to fully express how much you mean to us, but I hope you'll see it, every day, as they grow to be men, with their little I love you's, and hand made cards and pictures, and asking you to play with them, the snuggles and hugs, the constant fart jokes they tell to try to impress you, the way they look up to you and admire you. I hope you can see how much they love you, how much you've changed their world by being their father, even when words can't begin to express it.

Happy Fathers Day!

Sticky keys on laptop, walking the lakefront, and Father's Day

Here at Lakeside I'm using both my I-pad and my laptop, and occasionally some keys stick on the laptop.  Today I couldn't use the T or the Y so I switched to the I-pad and stated a substitution, but as soon as I did that, they started to work.

I walked 2 miles this morning, choosing the most level street (3rd) but also walked back on the lakefront, but did have to walk about half a block with an incline.  At one time the lake was much bigger, like maybe 8 thousand years ago (have you been warned enough about climate change), so the lakefront used to be much further south of here, with a gradual slope.  Even so, it was worth the extra effort.  The lakefront flowers were gorgeous, and it was much warmer than last night's prediction.

We'll celebrate Father's Day by eating breakfast at the Patio Restaurant after the Dockside church service.  Tomorrow my husband returns to Columbus for a church meeting, his guitar lesson and a doctor's appointment, so he'll have his Father's day dinner with our daughter and husband then.  He doesn't know it, but she's found the 2016 Maise Dobbs novel, and that will be one of his gifts.  Don't tell!  He has the set, but we didn't know about the latest one.   http://www.jacquelinewinspear.com/

Heads up for Father's Day

"The idea of Father’s Day was conceived more than a century ago by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Wash., while she listened to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who was left to raise his six children on a farm. A day in June was chosen for the first Father’s Day celebration, June 17, 1910, proclaimed by Spokane’s mayor because it was the month of Smart’s birth.

The first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was issued in 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. Father’s Day has been celebrated annually since 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed the public law that made it permanent."

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2016/cb16-ff11.html