Well, one lady started a thread about mothers, I thought I'd start a thread about our fathers. :lol: Seeing as how I couldn't say much in the mothers thread. :rolleyes:

What have you learned from your dad?
What sort of impact has he had on your life?
Do you have a good relationship with him?

My dad is awesome! He an upstanding Christian guy (with a few aspects I very much disagree with). He did his best to be mother and father to us after mom left. He taught me respect, honesty, responsiblity, to stand up for what I KNOW is right in Jesus, that you have to work to get what you want/need in life. He taught me how to cook, clean.....:lol: He tried to talk to me about womanly things, but since he's a guy.....:rofl: Dad and I have a really good relationship. He's always been there for me and tried his hardest to teach me to wait a few hundred years til I got married and had kids. :lol:
My dad had/has a huge impact on my life. I am who I am because of him. Spoiled and all. :lol:

How about you ladies?

I have an awesome dad too....... I have an awesome mum as well, so I am double blessed...... but my dad is something special...... when my mom was still in the phase (after at least 10 years) of accepting my disease, my dad was already through that and started to ask questions about the how and why and was more interested in what the doctor said than my mom.......
He's always been helping me greatly with my gardens..... and now makes sure we have springbulbs and nice plants in the summer on our little front porch...... we have no garden with our appartment, and I miss that greatly..... and he's trying to make up for that.....
Anyway, he's the greatest dad for me..... and he loves Charles greatly too.....
The only thing that I do not like about my dad is that he's no longer a Christian..... :cry: he, my mom and my brother have turned their back on Jesus and that saddens me deeply..... they refuse to talk about it with us, so we can only show how good Jesus is to us....... they have raised us in the faith, so it's only a few years since they backed off....... that's one thing I would love to change about my dad (and mom and brother)........

Love you,
Mieke :kiss:

This reminds me of that song Daughters by John Mayer :) Anyway, my dad died when I was a baby but my older brother has raised me since then and has been like a father to me. Some of the things he's taught me are:

1. God is good - even when our circumstances tell us He's not, He's still good.
2. Obey authority - even though I've been somewhat rebellious from time to time, he taught me that I need to obey even when I don't "feel" like it. He taught me that obeying authority is very important to God.
3. Love Justice - my brother prosecutes criminals, so it's almost been ingrained in me to seek justice for those who need protected. So I tend to get very upset when I see people mistreated or innocent people harmed or taken advantage of in any way.
4. Be a blessing - he is one of the most generous people I know. The other day we drove through a fast food restaurant and he randomly paid for all of the people's meals who were in line behind us. I think there were 4-5 cars. He does stuff like that all the time just to bless people.
5. Seek truth - I know there are absolutes and truth can be known because he taught me there is a standard we live by that is unwavering.
6. Pursue knowledge and wisdom - I used to find it so annoying that when I would get in trouble he would make me write an essay about it, and look up scriptures to prove myself wrong, lol. But now I see how doing that taught me how to learn the truth and how to grow in wisdom. It also helped me learn my way around a bible.
7. Discipline is a good thing - I'm still working on believing this, haha. But seriously, if you are disciplined it means you are loved. It used to be so frustrating to me that I've had so much accountability (sometimes its still frustrating, lol), but I know the truth is that if someone loves you...really loves you...they help you grow and sometimes that means you have to be corrected.
8. Passion - my family is italian and we're very emotional. When we fight, we fight hard and when we laugh, we laugh loud. We're huggers and kissers. Yes, sometimes that means slamming doors too. But whatever!
9. Humility - pride is what led to the Fall, and pride is what makes me feel like I want to be autonomous and do my own thing. I'm still working on realizing I can't always have things my own way :) Of course, this is something my brother struggles with too because he can be a real arrogant jerk sometimes! hehe
10. Stay pure - I'm not sure if it's an older brother thing, or just a godly thing, but he has put a great deal of emphasis on protecting my purity. Of course, this has led to all sorts of drama throughout my teen years when I wanted a boyfriend and he wouldn't let me have one, haha. He has also been known to spy on me and do background checks on my friends (not even kidding). If I were to lose my virginity before I get married (which I don't plan on), I have no doubt he'd probably kill me.

But anyway, those are just a few things I've learned from the man who has raised me. I'm not telling him all that those because he'll get a big head :P

My dad was a good man, although he didn't know the Lord until the end of his life.
I had the privilege of witnessing to him and praying with him, before he passed away in 1991.

He was from the "old school" as the saying goes. He was very conservative and strict.
He had a hard time showing affection, but he mellowed as he aged, and in his own way, he showed he did care for us, although there was a time early on I wasn't sure.

He did the best he knew how to do as a father considering he grew up in a home without love and /or nurturing.

I miss him to this day, but am so grateful that I will see him again in heaven one day!

Jeanne

I love my dad.

We were not a 'church going' family, going on occasion or at least at Christmas and Easter. None of us were born again believers.

As a young child, I remember my dad taking me fishing, and letting me help him 'fix' the cars every weekend (I got to pump the brakes!). I look a lot like him, and inherited his sense of humor as well as his blue eyes and blond hair.

However, he was absent a lot from the home when I was a kid, traveling during the week, and when he came home, there was a lot of strife between my mom and him. He abandoned us when I was 14, and it was something that took a long time to forgive.

When I got married, and started having kids, he tried to keep some sort of relationship going: he'd visit once or twice a year (he lived in CA, I lived on the east coast); it was never easy to have him visit, due to his tendency to boss everyone into doing things his way.

After I got saved, I started witnessing to him, first by writing him a letter about my conversion. He still came to visit once a year or so, but shrugged off my attempts to reach him with the gospel.

Then, two years ago, when he came to visit, the Lord had him under conviction, and he finally accepted Christ, just a few weeks before his 79th birthday!

I've always loved my dad, but now I'm so thankful that we'll get to be together forever in Heaven with Jesus.

God is so good.