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Hey Dad,

Sorry I missed you last week. We were on the East coast and life was just a little busy. Anyway, I wanted to give you a little heads up about this weekend. Something big is happening; it's a convergence. That's right. It's a convergence of Father's Day and Kid's Day (the first day of summer). According to my calculations, this convergence won't take place again for … some time.

Sunday is the perfect day to celebrate being a dad, family, and your children. Go all out. Throw some hamburgers on the grill, get a slip-n-slide, go to a movie, have a campfire, go to a favorite restaurant, or have a squirt gun fight, but make sure you take advantage of this "Convergence."

To read more about Kid's Day, click here.

Change of subject: I've been thinking about the old Paul Newman movie Cool Hand Luke lately. Actually, I started thinking about it last week after talking to several fellow dads.

As I talked with them about their teenagers who were giving them fits, their wives who didn't seem to think like them, and the deceptively deadly pull of success that beckons to them every day, I saw tiredness in their eyes and heard emotion in their voices.

I listened to them and nodded in understanding until they finished. Then in a gentle but firm voice I said, "Man, I know exactly how you feel, but … you 'da dad. You may feel like giving up, but your family is counting on you. You can't give up on them. Get back in there, because although they may say harsh things … they still need you."

They sighed, stiffened their chins in determination, and nodded in agreement. "You're right, Todd," they said. "Thanks for the reminder." And then they walked away, ready to give it another shot.

That's when I started thinking about Cool Hand Luke. It's about a guy who winds up in a prison chain gang and repeatedly tires to escape.

Early on, cocky Paul Newman arrives at the prison camp and is challenged by a moose of a man to a boxing match. Everyone knows Luke will be knocked out cold in the first round, but to the surprise of everyone, he just won't go down.

He smiles, gets pounded to the ground, and then staggers up to get knocked down again, and again, and again. Everyone tells him to stay down but he just gets back up. It's brutal. Eventually, even the BIG guy feels sorry for him and begs him to stay down, but he won't. You think his dirty and bruised body is incapable of moving at all when he drags himself to a standing position and lifts his hand to defend himself again.

That's fathering and husbanding!

That's what God has called you to do, Dad: to keep trying, loving, and standing up when it would be a whole lot easier to lie down and stay down. To everyone's amazement, you stagger back to your feet and keep at it. You know why?

Because YOU 'DA DAD!!

© 2009 Todd Wilson. Used by permission

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