Free!

AD 2006, Volume 5, Issue 3

The attention span of fathers is criminally fickle. Some men pay attention to their offspring only long enough to conceive them. Passionate about the physics part, they ignore the wonder of the metaphysics—an eternal soul has sprung from nothing in a second, bearing a broken image of God, one that needs to be grace-mended.  Somehow, they remain unmoved by their responsibility. They are like the god of the Deists, bored with everything but flinging universes into existence, never hanging around to manage what they’ve flung.  No love, no discipline, no ear to listen, no time for their creation, and all appeals are met with the impersonality of an answering machine.

Whatever the reason, we need to get over it. Fatherhood is a long term investment, and perhaps the most significant thing men can do.  Five hundred years from now, no one will remember if we had the corner office.  They won’t remember is we drove the latest beamer, or if we made it into Forbes’ list of the 100 richest. But they will not be able to ignore our descendents—because they will be everywhere.  Our presence or absence, our involvement or non-involvement, our Triune fathering or Deistic abdication will tell the tale then, even as it does now.

If you haven’t already guessed, this issue is devoted to fatherhood.  Joining us in our interviews are Matt Whitling, father of six, and Jamie Soles, father of nine.  In addition to being a husband and father, Mr. Whitling works at LOGOS school, in Moscow, Idaho; he also writes and speaks on education and parenting; and Mr. Soles is a Christian musician, best known for his work creating biblical children’s music.  Thanks for listening to St. Anne’s Public House.  Find yourself a corner, pour yourself a pint, and enter the fray.