Here’s a short testimony in how a father can set the standard for his family. I’m the only one in my family born in this country. I was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Queens. My mother, brother, and sister were born in Jamaica. My father was born in Africa, Nigeria specifically, but he grew up in Jamaica. My father came to this country in 1951. And he, like a typical Jamaican, did not like American football. He’d never, own his own accord, sit down and watch a football game. But if I, my brother, or one of my nephews were watching a game, he’d sit and watch. And invariably, he’d make comments most Jamaicans make like, “Why do they call it football? They hardly use their feet!” And more often than not, he’d give us the definition of a ball. “That’s not even a ball. A ball is a round, spherical object.” So hearing that growing up, I now know what a ball is.
While it’s not as true as it used to be, most men in this country are fans of whatever team and sport their father was. Usually it’s your father who takes you to your first game or gives you your first exposure to that sport. I don’t know if you know this but fathers are supposed to name their children, especially their sons, spiritually. They’re supposed to tell them who they are in Christ and other things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
Well, my father never “named” us football wise so to speak. As a result of that; I’m NY football Giants fan (I was a Vikings fan in high school-I don’t know how that happened). My brother is, I think, a Jets fan. He used to be a Dolphin fan, I think that was back when Dan Marino played. Two of my brother’s three sons are Cowboys fans. The other is a Steelers fan. My sister’s son wasn’t a football fan growing up but he married a Jets fan. So now he’s a Jets fan. Smart man. I don’t have a son and my daughter was on the swimming team and ran track. So as you can see, we’re all over the map football wise.
Baseball, however, is a completely different story. As I said, my father came here in the early 50’s, and he fell in love with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Now if you know anything about the history of major league baseball in the 1950’s, fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants DID NOT become fans of the New York Yankees. ABSOLUTELY NOT! So when the Mets came along in 1962, my father became a die-hard Mets fan until the day he died. As a result, all the men in my family (with the exception of one rouge nephew who’s a yankees fan, but we still love him) are Mets fan. I mean I have male cousins in Jamaica who are Mets fans.
My point is this. if one man can set the standard for his family for something as insignificant as sports, how much more should we men in the Kingdom set the standard for our families concerning the things of the Kingdom of God! WE need to be praying with our children at night. WE need to reading the Bible to our children. And men, DO NOT send your children to church with your wife. YOU need to be taking your family to church. Now I know some of you might be in a situation on your job where you have to work on Sundays. That’s one of the reasons why you have to believe God for prosperity. Check out my blog on prosperity here.
Finally I want to share how the Lord indirectly used my earthly father to get me saved. My father came to as many as my baseball games as he could. I also played soccer in high school and was on the swimming team at the Y. He came to as many of those events as he could. Basically, he was involved in my life. I just recently got the revelation how God used all of that to get me saved. I believe it was through the love of baseball my father instilled in me that led me to play a year of college baseball in LA. From there I ended up playing parts of three seasons of professional baseball in Mexico. And that’s where I actually got saved. Another Spirit-Filled Christian ball player led me to the Lord. That’s a testimony for another blog.
My main point is brothers, you need to be there for your children. Athletically, yes, academically, of course. But most importantly, spiritually. Selah!