Father's Day

Today is Father's Day and it's been quite a full one. We've been pounded for a few weeks now with rain and thunderstorms, although it's been nothing like the scenario being played out in Iowa. I have a great buddy who's up in the Cedar Rapids area and I'm praying that he is OK.

We just got back from Nashville on Friday night after visiting my sister and her family plus my mom and her husband for a few quick days. While the weather was a bit muggier than it is here in Arkansas (at this point anyway), it was great to see everyone and especially make that connection to my one year old nephew Brady. This kid has got hair as red as fire and a big, toothy grin embedded in full, chubby cheeks that just make your heart melt. With his goo-gooing and gaa-gaaing and whatever else he speaks in his nonsensical way, it's no wonder we got along so well.

Anyway, after a full week of travel, we immediately began to prepare for Kaitlyn to leave us (today of all days) for a week of church camp. Needless to say, it was with somewhat nervous and heavy hearts we all packed up the car again and drove an hour away from home to drop her off.

One of the things we took a little bit of solace in was knowing a few of the girls from her church and a few of her friends from 4th grade were also going. So, we weren't too worried about her hooking up with the other girls and having a great time.

Well, that's just me being a naive dad.

I got to see first hand just how catty and tactless a lot of kids are becoming in this day & age when one of the girls Kaitlyn knows from here basically dressed her down and said in as snotty of a voice as she could muster "you're in the OTHER cabin, not our's" and then huffed away.

Of course, this child said this in front of a few of the other Fayetteville spoiled brats who just happened to be standing in front of their empty-headed mothers who were too busy gabbing amongst themselves to even notice (or worse...even care) their daughters were being such twits. It was all I could do to not give the child a "right good whipping" but since she isn't my kid, I thought better of it.

You know...that's just one of many things wrong with the kids of today. Parents either refuse to discipline their own kids and raise them with manners & morals or they just expect someone else to do it. I don't know how many bratty children I see who are in desperate need of some "tough love" but yet remain wild and unrefined. I'm told from my wife that girls are just a bit more catty & snotty than boys are, although I've had my run-ins growing up with punk bullies who thought it'd be a load of fun to harass the superintendent's kid. If it's true about the younger females, I hope we can put aside our immediate desire to squash anyone who mistreats our child and instead teach our own kids how to forgive them and remain somewhat compassionate through it all.

That's a word I'd bet most of those kids have never either heard or been taught.

Compassion.

Well, on with the recap.

As we got home tonight, we noticed a lot of dark storm clouds beginning to form overhead. We turned on the TV and saw that the very place where Kaitlyn and the other 400+ campers were staying was in the direct line of a pretty intense thunderstorm that COULD produce damaging winds, hail the size of golf balls and possibly tornadoes.

Nothing like having your guilt and fear assuaged by Mother Nature sending her fury down on a church camp full of wet, scared kids, eh?

I was able to find a number to the camp and make contact with one of the counselors. He reassured me that the kids were all fine, accounted for and safely tucked away inside some of the buildings. I told him we were just concerned but we'd continue to pray for their safety throughout the night. He thanked me for my prayers and assured me he'd call if anything more severe happened.

Amazing how calm he sounded on the phone, considering I probably wasn't the only "Chicken Little" parent calling to enquire about their child.

So, here I am, winding down another Father's Day with one of my flock away at a soggy church camp, the other one sleeping where my wife should be and my wife sleeping upstairs where the boy should be.

Ahh well, at least I can sleep tonight knowing my family is safe and more importantly that my God is watching over us all.

I pray if you're reading this that wherever you are and whatever you are going through, you take a moment to just stop and realize how much God loves YOU. We had an incredible message today at church that I'll try to go into more detail about tomorrow but it was all about God's love for us. It was such a powerful reminder and I'm excited to share it with you.

Have a good night and I hope you're able to stay dry & warm wherever you are.

Hurry home Kaitlyn. Daddy & Mommy miss you a whole bunch...and believe it or not, so does Jake.