Teachers at the Billy Earl Dade Middle School in Texas were planning a “Breakfast with Dads” event for December 14, 2017. Around 150 boys, ages 11 to 13, signed up for the event. But about 90% of their students came from low income families, and Kristina Dove, the senior partner relations manager at Big Thought, a youth development nonprofit, wasn’t sure if every student would have a father present during the program.
So, On Dec. 4, she sent out an appeal on social media:
“Please Share! Men Needed! On next Thursday, December 14th at 8:30 AM at Dr. Billy Earle Dade Middle School we will host ‘Breakfast with Dads’ the reality of a great event like this is a lot of our kids will not have a Dad present.”
She was looking for about 50 volunteers. That’s all she thought she would need, or at least that’s what she hoped. She got much more than she bargained for.
Nearly 600 men showed up.
And those boys will never forget it.
One of my favorite lines in Scripture is barely noticeable. In fact, I think most people would step over it on their way to other bigger or more inspirational passages. But it’s worth pausing there for a moment as Father’s Day approaches.
In the opening verses of his artistic account of the life of Christ, John writes, “There came a man sent from God, whose name was John” (John 1:6). Don’t let the duplicate names confuse you. This is the apostle John writing about John the Baptist. And he reflects on the purpose of John the Baptist, that is, he came as “a witness” to Christ (1:7).
But it’s the way he does so that grips me. “There came a man sent from God” who had a specific purpose and stepped up to do his part at the pivotal moment that God had designed for him.
There came a man sent from God
John 1:6
I grew up in a single-parent home. I saw my Dad on a regular basis, and we had a good relationship, but my mother raised me and my two older brothers. A single mom, teaching school full-time, working other jobs as well, and raising three sons. Makes you tired just thinking about it, doesn’t it?
Thankfully, she’s a believer and raised us in a Christian home. She did a wonderful job. But boys need the influence of men, and even more so, boys need the influence of godly men. At pivotal points in life, boys need men to shape them, answer their questions, mentor them, teach them life skills, and point them in the right direction. I am grateful for my grandfather, and for my brothers whose influence is incalculable. But God knows that boys need men outside of the family as well. Men who step up when they are needed and show up when they are wanted.
When I read in John’s Gospel the phrase “there came a man,” I think of the men God brought into my life at those pivotal stages. Men who took me camping. The man who taught me to ride horses. The neighbor who taught me to shoot a rifle and clean fish.
And the men in church. Men who were youth leaders. Men who sat with us at Wednesday night dinners. The men who reached out to us and spoke to us every single Sunday at church. The man and his son who included me in their “father-son” outings. The man who sat with me on the front pew when I trusted Christ as my Savior. The man who wrote me a note to offer his prayers and blessings when I surrendered to God’s call to preach. The youth pastor who picked me up when my car broke down. The men who called and congratulated me when I graduated from high school, and then from college, and then from seminary.
So, for me, the phrase “there came a man sent from God” has meaning beyond the pages of the Bible. It’s written on the faces of every one of those men who cared enough to come alongside me in those pivotal points of a boy becoming a man.
Men, look around this Sunday. Pay attention. What boy needs your influence? What boy needs you to serve as a role model, a coach, a guide for the path to manhood? What teenager needs a mentor to teach them, a confidante to listen, or an advocate to stand for them?
And what man, remembering his days growing up in your neighborhood, in your schools, in your church, will look back on his life and see your face when he reads the phrase “there came a man sent from God”?