Randy Smith: Families Belong Together

A ginormous brisket smoked low and slow by my son. Loaded potato casserole and strawberry salad prepared by my daughter. Shelia's baked beans and the world's best homemade ice cream.....chocolate and peach....2 buckets. Add Texas toast, tea and lemonade and you have the ultimate Father's Day feast. Yesterday was a glorious day of worship at Christ Church, great food, all the "grands" splashing and squealing in the pool and the adults laughing and enjoying the blessings of all of us together. Of all the gifts (most of them emblazoned with a power T) the best gift of all was simply being together.

This morning I have reflected on what a precious gift that really is and in doing so, I am overwhelmed with sadness for those families who could not share the gift of being together. If I lived in an area where drug lords ruled and violence prevailed, I would get my family out of there by any way I could and I'm guessing you would too. Children are being taken from their parents and imprisoned with strangers. We are better than that America. We are family dinners on Father's Day. We are baseball games played by six year olds with two generations watching. We value families. We nurture children. As we just celebrated Father's Day, it is even more significant and more painful when children are harmed.

I was so fortunate to grow up in a loving Christian home. I was the first child born to my parents and the first grandchild for my Mother's side of the family. Both sides of my family saw the importance of family being together as often as possible and still do to this day. Being an oldest grandchild, I was taught at an early age to look after the younger kids and take care of them. That job easily carried over into my parenting because I try to take care of all my kids and grandkids as well and will continue to do that as long as I live.  I believe a father should cherish all children, especially their own. Love them unconditionally and provide them with positive opportunities   

The God we worship created a perfect world. The fact that it is so imperfect is our fault, not His. Human beings are just that; humans. We make mistakes each and every day. Some we correct, and others we leave for someone else to deal with. The fact that families are separated and children taken from their parents is an atrocity like no other in our country's history. This is something we can correct and should do so right away. 

A real father takes care of children. A real father will not allow a child to be mistreated , whether it is his child or not. A real father stands up and calls out when a child is being harmed. Call your legislators on both sides of the aisle . Stand up for children. Every baseball game you watch a child play, every swim meet, tennis match, or ballet performance you attend, think about those children who are imprisoned or "detained" on American soil and make that call for them.