Appreciating the Vision Even When you Don’t Get The Technology

Happy Father’s Day!

In a few weeks it will be seven years since my dad passed away.   I was thinking last night and this morning about him, and about how interested he was in everything I was doing individually, and what we were doing collectively as a family.

It suddenly occurred to me that he would have liked the concept of this blog.

He wouldn’t understand all the nuances of the technology, and I’d probably talk about “articles” I had written instead of “posts;” and “letters” people had written back instead of “comments;” but I think he would love the idea of people sharing ideas over the internet.

He’d also be fascinated by the number and variety of readers this thing pulls in; I know I am.   He’d be impressed that it’s not just shouting into the wind, but that there are real readers who are sharing real dialog; and that some of them “blog” (I’d use the word “write”) as well, and I share in what they are doing online also.

I think he instilled in me the idea that it’s better to be “effective” than to be “successful.”

Yesterday, we listened as Christian talk-show host Drew Marshall interviewed self-proclaimed humanist and popular singer-songwriter Dan Hill.   I actually went to high school with Dan.   Anyway, the title of Dan’s book is I Am My Father’s Son.

Hill said this was a real breakthrough moment when he realized the truth of that statement, and he is realizing it more and more each day.  (That interview will be posted online here on Friday, June 25.)

I can resonate with that statement.   I am also my father’s son.

My father believed strongly in putting effort into things that have eternal value.   I have failed at a lot of things, but at least when I get to the finish-line, and He asks me “What did you to do build My kingdom?” I will at least be able to formulate some kind of answer.   Despite my imperfections — which are many — I am trying to keep the cross in view as I map out my days, my weeks and my months.

Better this than never attempting anything, right?

I think my Dad would have liked this blog.   For all I know, he’s being allowed to look over my shoulder as I type this, and got to read this before you did.