How can I Change my world
How can I Change my world?
Talk about the beginnings of Mallard Manor. How it started and where it is now
A group of appreciative tourists watched a demonstration put on by the Royal Artillery of the Queen. The six-man team worked with flawless precision. Actually, only five of them worked with precision. One of the soldiers positioned himself about twenty-five yards away from the cannon and stood at attention during the entire exhibition, doing nothing.
After the exhibition, one of the tourists asked the staff officer to explain the duty of the man standing off to the side.
“He’s number six,” came the reply.
“Yes, but what does he do?”
“He stands at attention.”
“Yes, I know, but why does he stand at attention?”
No one knew why number six stood at attention. None of the other five knew, the man himself didn’t know, and even the commanding officer didn’t know.
After many hours of research through old training manuals, it became clear what number six was to do. He was to hold the horses.
Why was number six standing at attention? Because he was appointed to do so. Did he have any idea what he was supposed to do? No.
I’m afraid there are too many husbands and fathers today who are in the same situation. When it comes to their families, they’re simply standing there. Motionless. Like the sixth man in the Royal Artillery, they’re making about as much difference in their homes as parsley on a plate of guacamole.
The sixth man had no idea he was supposed to be holding the horses. And too many men today have no idea that their job is to save the boys. Some of these boys that come through the camps at Mallard Manor have absentee dads. Never taking the time to be upclose and involved in their lives.
William Raspberry, a black columnist with the Washington Post wrote, “If I could offer a single prescription for the survival of America, and particularly black America,” “it would be to restore the family. And if you asked me how to do it, my answer—doubtlessly oversimplified—would be: save the boys and girls our children
Prov 22:1-6
Error increases with distance. In my estimation, that’s a primary principle of fathering. If you are going to save the boys, you have to be there.
I am an excellent bowler. I carry an average of 285. The goal of any bowler is a 300 game. Over the years I have rolled nearly twenty 300 games.
But there’s something I should mention. The length of a bowling alley is approximately sixty feet. I, however, prefer to bowl from about fifteen feet. When I bowl from fifteen feet, I enjoy the game a lot more. The majority of my balls are strikes, and when I do leave a spare, I always make it.
There are five goals as Fathers that if we implement in our lives we can save our kids from a world that is destroying their lives. It is my job as their father to model for them the importance of:
• Knowing and obeying Jesus Christ.------- walking with Him, striving to get just as close as I can. That my kids might know what is most important in my life. There is nothing wrong with the recreation of hunting and fishing as a pastime as long as that does not take the place of God in my life. My Father was an avid outdoorsman. He took us hunting every weekend during whatever season that was in but we never hunted on Sunday because he not only taught us that that was the Lord’s day but he lived it.
• Knowing and displaying godly character.-------rd vs. 1 rd-----A good name. Not just reputation in our sense of good name, but good character. Having a good name (3:4; Ecc. 7:1), that is, an honorable reputation because of good character, is to be valued far above having much wealth. Riches are useless ( Prov. 1:19; 10:2, 13:11) if in gaining them one ruins his character.
• Knowing and loving my wife.--- tell how they fringe when I hug and kiss Brenda… .. Buy the way I treat my wife is what my daughters see and understand to be the norm. It will help them find their husbands one day and put up a plumb line to what they expect. Not a level but a plumb line
• Knowing and loving my children.------knowing knows my children. There wants and needs. What our children really want is our attention as their growing up. We cannot replace love with things. As a pastor I’ve seen and ministered to children with absentee dads. (tell about Caleb from Millport Al. and those that have came through the camps)
• Knowing my gifts and abilities so I can work hard and effectively in an area of strength, rather than weakness, contribute effectively to the lives of others—and have a little fun at the same time. God has so gifted each and every one of us in different areas that put together makes up the church. Our churches are struggling to function in great power because we’re like a motor that’s not hitting on all cylinders. When we’re called to come to this church or that church it’s to align with kingdom business. He calls us to serve and to give to his kingdom work.( tell about business men who are dads that came through duck hunting and heard about our summer camps)
Tell about Don