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Key Bible Verse: Fathers, do not exasperate you children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). Bonus Reading: 1 Thessalonians 2:6b-12

Dave Simmons was an All-American linebacker for Georgia Tech. During the Senior Bowl, when Dave was co-captain of the South team, his father wanted to know why they interviewed the other linebacker from the North team (Dick Butkus) instead of him during halftime. In the NFL draft, when Dave was chosen in the second round, his father wanted to know why Dave wasn't chosen in the first round. (Joe Namath was their first-round choice.)

Dave lived under the tyranny of an impatient, unreasonable father. "To this day," he says, "I can't capture the feeling of a job well done. I constantly focus on my mistakes and am negative toward all I do. I set goals too high and fail. … I go to ridiculous lengths to reach perfection in order to get compliments and recognition for my work, but then I can't accept appreciation and feel like a failure. Even though all the facts say I'm successful, my emotions convince me I'm a failure."

Much of the abuse in our society has a root in the failure of fathers to exercise patience with their children. All children benefit from a man who remains calm and collected during a failure or crisis.

—Ken Canfield in Spiritual Secrets of Faithful Fathers

• When your children fail, do you look for the positive to affirm in them?

Thought to Apply: A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be.

—FRANK A. CLARK

Credits: Adapted from— Monday: Spiritual Secrets of Faithful Fathers (Beacon Hill, 1997)

Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity. For reprint information click here.

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