Thank God for fathers
Thank you for the fathers who have followed your Word
in fathering children
Those who have invited you into their relationships
Who have modeled your covenant in their family covenant

Thank you God
For fathers who have braved first the whip,
then the whip-like conditions of various workplaces
To put fruit in refrigerators. Beans in pots
Meat and bread on tables.
Thank you for those who aren’t to proud to
Serve delicacies to their families and friends

Thank you God
For our men who have been so misunderstood
Who media have scraped, sniped and discouraged
For their courage to own their own images
To re-claim their heritage
To master sports and sport top academic honors
To build careers and own businesses
To stand on point and bring up the rear
To wash little hands and mend broken hearts

Thank you God
For those men who lavish fatherly care on children not their own
Who have the courage and patience to deal with sour attitudes,
hot tempers and terrible tongues
Thank you God for those who step up to the plate
As coaches, mentors, teachers and friends
Who have the discipline to dry little girl’s and women’s tears
without twisting their lives

Thank you God
For the fathers who seek your face and presence within
Who invite you to walk with them. Who invite you to talk with them.
Who invite you to sing with them
Who invite you to work and mend with them
Who invite you to teach with them. Who invite you preach with them.
Who invite you to be their Father and Friend

Thank you God for Fathers!
And thank you especially for the fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers,
cousins, pastors and friends YOU sent to share fatherly love with me.

Fathers Will Win
© Charlotte Sista C Ferrell

Beloved Fathers, Grandads, Brothers, Uncles, and Cousins
When the little nay-sayer gatekeepers of life’s bad news
Seem to be emptying themselves upon you,
When the storm clouds of life
Seem to have parked over your head…

Look up, look over – You’ve got gate-opening power!
Angels of peace and order are available to you
Breathe, reflect, and feel renewed like a shower
Feel God’s inner power turbo charged with grace
Pass the baton- angels are also in this race
Timeless power is ready to glow from your face
You are a special Father serving in God’s space

Look around, note senseless frowns
Hair triggered tempers and curse-ridden replies
Have coroners counting unclaimed bodies
Families searching streets on tear-soaked journeys
In a flash any one of us could go down
But You have what it takes to turn things around

Look up, look around 
There is a fountain of love ready to assist you
To the level where your dreams want to lift you
Don’t cringe as you break thru concrete again and again
Earthly tests may bend, but with new strength, you ascend
You will win ’waay’ before life’s end
Rest Assured that God has empowered YOU
As a Father, nurturer, and Leader upon whom many depend
  
                                  Happy Father’s Day