10 Ways to Prepare Your Son for Life , livre ebook

Harvest House Publishers, Inc. - Steve Chapman

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67 pages

English

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Steve Chapman, bestselling author of family-oriented books, offers 10 principles drawn from the Bible and personal experience to encourage today's dads to engage with their children and help them... know they are loved and secure understand who Jesus is and how to become His followers develop their gifts and talents make wise choices discover that helping people is fun and rewarding accept responsibility and be successful grow up to become godly men, great husbands, and loving dads Whether just starting out or well into the parenting journey, fathers will appreciate the practical information, hands-on suggestions, and often humorous examples Steve shares to help them raise sons who will become men of integrity and honor. Formerly 10 Things I Want My Son to Know

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Publié par	Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
Date de parution	01 octobre 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780736952699
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0415€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Verses marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible , Copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Cover by Koechel Peterson Associates, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Cover photo Comstock / Thinkstock
10 WAYS TO PREPARE YOUR SON FOR LIFE
Formerly published as 10 Things I Want My Son to Know
Copyright 2002 by Steve Chapman
Published 2013 by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
ISBN 978-0-7369-5268-2 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-5269-9 (eBook)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chapman, Steve.
10 things I want my son to know / Steve Chapman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-7369-0737-8 (pbk.)
1. Fathers-Religious life. 2. Fatherhood (Christian theology) 3. Fathers and sons-Religious aspects-Christianity. I. Title: Ten things I want my son to know. II. Title.
BV4846.C47 2002
248.8 421-dc21
2001038510
All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author s and publisher s rights is strictly prohibited.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the two men in this world who mean the most to me .
To my dad, P.J. Chapman, who passed his love to me, and to my son, Nathan, who now receives the results of that love .
Contents
Dedication
Dad-a Soul Provider
Chapter 1
You Will Always Be Mine
Chapter 2
Proof of My Love
Chapter 3
Good Work
Chapter 4
Choosing the Right Hero
Chapter 5
First Comes Love
Chapter 6
Then Comes Marriage
Chapter 7
Then Comes Son with a Baby Carriage
Chapter 8
The Guard
Chapter 9
Bogeys and Birdies
Chapter 10
Little Sayings with a Lot of Truth
Last Words
Notes
About Steve Chapman
The Chapmans Discography
Dad-a Soul Provider
Have you ever stopped to ask, Why did God give human babies a nine-month gestation period? One reason could be that it takes that much time for a first-time father-to-be to fully realize the seriousness of what he has done and brace himself for the way his life is going to change.
Imagine finding out on a Tuesday that your wife is pregnant and on Wednesday afternoon, bam! the kid pops out. Emotionally it would be like driving down the interstate at 75 miles per hour and somebody dropping a brick wall on the road in your lane. Life, as you knew it, would come to an abrupt halt. In essence, it s God s grace that allows us months-not hours-to prepare for a newborn.
Even with plenty of time to reorganize our lives, when Annie s and my first child came along in March of 1977, the changes were drastic. No more spontaneous, after sunset trips to the local tennis courts to play all night (or until I could win!). No more unplanned drives to the Nashville Music Row IHOP Restaurant for a midnight pancake snack and a session of watching the weirdos. These adventures once unrestricted by the responsibilities of parenthood, became a thing of the past.
Our lifestyle experienced some serious alterations because of the coming of a baby. The decor in the spare bedroom of our duplex lost its hippie pad feel. The large, round, heavy, wooden telephone cable spool that we were using for a dining room table and the four milk-crate chairs were carried to the curb. There they waited to be picked up by either the city dump truck or another grateful hippie couple. In place of those pitiful items was a beautiful, borrowed crib equipped with a garage-sale mobile that played a soft lullaby as it slowly turned. The burlap curtains came down and were replaced with some nice Winnie the Pooh window treatments. These and a few other designer decorations by Fisher-Price were only a shadow of the mountain of changes we would face.

While in his infancy, my job in caring for our son was focused mainly on his body and belly. Though I did very little during this time except the gross stuff, like changing dirty diapers and catching drool drippings on my face when I held him high, I knew that eventually his soul and spirit would require my undivided attention .

When the actual B-day arrived, bringing with it the painful transition contractions that caused Annie to give me some really hateful looks, the shock of reality went even deeper into my formerly carefree heart. The moment Nathan s little womb-warm body met the sterile cold air of the delivery room, he cried like a well a baby! My first thought was, If that s how he s gonna act, just put him back! Annie would not have agreed to it, so I did the smart thing and kept my mouth shut.
That March morning yielded the most sobering of the changes I would have to face. I realized our care for him would no longer be automatic. Up until then, he had been silently mooching off his mama s meals and staying quietly out of sight. I had little to do other than enjoy his occasional kicks that I could feel as I gently palmed Annie s rounded stomach like a basketball. However, in the instant the razor sharp scissors sliced through his umbilical cord, the low-maintenance era was over. From then on, being a dad had to be voluntary and deliberate. The plethora of details required to just make sure he would be alive at the end of each day was mind (and body) boggling. Keeping him fed, cleaned, clothed, and comfortable became full-time employment for two adults.
While in his infancy, my job in caring for our son was focused mainly on his body and belly. Though I did very little during this time except the gross stuff, like changing dirty diapers and catching drool drippings on my face when I held him high, I knew that eventually his soul and spirit would require my undivided attention. It was about the time he started walking and forming intelligible words that I consciously added the responsibility for his spiritual growth to my list of daddy duties.
With such an eternally serious charge staring me in the face, I was motivated to seize my chance at preparing to become his soul provider. I pondered the things I would want him to know, searched the Scriptures for wisdom and guidance, and leaned on veteran dads for helpful advice. (One well-seasoned father told me, If your kids turn out smart it s because they sucked the brains out of your head. If not, they had nothing to draw from! The good news is that more than a quarter of a century has passed since I became a dad-and I m still talking coherently.)
I willingly admit that I was not a perfect father. Who on earth is? When we get to heaven none of us, especially parents, are going to hear, Best done thou good and faithful servant (see Matthew 25:21). Instead, for our very best efforts, all we will get is a well done. Only one Father has been flawless. Still, I believe I did do one thing right. I trusted God when He said He supplies all of our needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). This is my ultimate comfort.
Compiled on the pages that follow are ten of the many parental provisions God was kind enough to share to help me raise a loving, God-fearing son. Though it wasn t easy to reduce the list to such a relatively small number, I have done so with two earnest wishes. One, as I relate them to you, I sincerely hope you will glean some helpful hints if you are, or hope to be, a papa. Second, I am excited about the possibility that these thoughts from my heart will be encouraging to the one person I hope will find them most useful-my own son, Nathan. If God someday chooses to bless him with the terrifyingly terrific opportunity of being a dad, perhaps he can pass some of these things on to his own kids. One thing is for sure, from personal experience I know he ll need all the help he can get!
1
You Will Always Be Mine
When God said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, He said those words about Jesus, not to Him (see Matthew 3:17). Though this statement was directed to the doubtful hearts of others, they must have been music in the ears of Jesus. What was said confirmed that His Father s love for Him was neither threatened nor diminished by His humanness. The same is true for me as an earthly father. I love my son in spite of the fact that he is human!
This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. While these words were not original with me, I did borrow them when anyone came to the hospital to see our newborn. I felt somewhat unauthorized to use the divine phrase since it was first used as a reference to Jesus; however, I wanted folks to know how I felt about our new arrival and it was the best way I could think of to say it. Little did I know that my innocent usage of God s announcement regarding His own Son was so appropriate.
When the voice of the Father in heaven crossed the unseen border between eternity and time, the word He used for son was more than just the term humans use for their offspring ( genos ). Jesus was called God s huios . The same word was used in Matthew 1:21, when the angel approached Joseph in a dream and announced, And she [Mary] shall bring f