Dads, Kids, and Mowing the Lawn

When you become a dad, dad jokes become infinitely funnier, and the lawn becomes an obsession. I didn't mean for it to happen to me, but here we are. My kids constantly roll their eyes at my jokes and I'm taking care of our tiny lawn like a newborn baby. There's nothing like mowing the grass and having everyone walk by and talk about how wonderful it smells and how good it looks.

But I haven't always been adept at lawn care. It was a skill my dad taught me. I remember the first times I mowed the lawn. We lived in the middle of nowhere, our yard was acres, and it was always seven-hundred degrees out. Admittedly, it wasn't fun at that age, but he did pay me a crisp Lincoln every time I mowed it, so that eased the pain a little.

Honestly, I would try to do a really good job. I knew my five-bucks depended on it. I made sure every blade of grass was cut and every weed chopped. I would finish after a couple of hours examine my work proudly, and think to myself, "This really looks great." Then came the dad inspection. He'd walk around the yard, and I would follow. As he looked over the lawn, he would say something like, "The yard looks good son, but "Oh boy, here it comes, "You missed a few spots." I would be so annoyed. This yard was perfect! Then he'd begin to show me all the little blades of grass I missed. Those pesky mohawks of meadow where my mower didn't hold the line. And the yard I thought was perfect, turned out to have some issues that I couldn't see until he pointed them out. Yet, once I saw them there was no way to ignore them. I wondered, "How did I ever miss these!?"

Dads have uncanny super-vision to see the blades of grass that their kids miss.

Tomorrow we check out a church in the city of Pergamum. A church that thinks the proverbial lawn looks perfect, but Jesus comes along and says, "You missed a few spots." It's a really helpful letter from Jesus for us as we examine our blind spots. I hope you'll worship with us tomorrow!