I\u2019m sure that many of you will know what it means to be \u201cDad\u2019s Taxi.\u201d\u00a0 As my children have grown, this part of my identity has developed rapidly.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been driving my children around for years, of course, but it would appear to be true that the amount of driving does increase in proportion to the age of the child.\u00a0 In one sense, it\u2019s been fairly easy for me to accommodate my daughters\u2019 increasing transport requirement because I work flexible hours.\u00a0 However, my ability to be flexible presents its own unique problem \u2013 I have a serious gap in my arsenal of excuses!<\/p>\n
Consider the parent who works nine-to-five, commutes a further hour at the beginning and end of every day and is afforded only four weeks annual leave.\u00a0 The question, \u201cIt\u2019s half-term; can you take me to the swimming pool \/ shopping centre on Wednesday lunchtime?\u201d is fairly easily answered; \u201cNo \u2013 I\u2019m at work!\u201d\u00a0 Whatever the request, such a parent has a fairly robust argument to employ if they are at all unsure about the wisdom of letting their child attend the function in question.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t have that luxury.\u00a0 So if I don\u2019t want my children to go, for whatever reason, I can\u2019t hide behind the convenient (albeit partially true) \u201cI\u2019m at work\u201d excuse.\u00a0 I have to give the proper reason. But actually, this is no bad thing.\u00a0 After all, if I want them to forge relationships which are based on honesty, faithfulness and mutual respect, then I have to model that in my relationship with them.\u00a0 So I have to be really clear in my own mind about what is good for my children.\u00a0 I must make right judgments about allowing them to grow up at an appropriate speed and, above all, I must surely communicate my thinking with them in a way which doesn\u2019t exasperate them (Eph 6:4) but which demonstrates my love.<\/p>\n
So \u201cDad\u2019s Taxi\u201d is part of my identity, but it is inextricably related to my being \u201cDad.\u201d\u00a0 Indeed, if I were just \u201cTaxi,\u201d there would be something desperately wrong.\u00a0 It is in my daughters\u2019 best interests for me to be Dad first and Taxi second.\u00a0 And that means I have to work out what it means to be a good dad.\u00a0 So where do I look for guidance on this?<\/p>\n
Christmas is coming when we celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.\u00a0 He was brought up by Joseph (\u201ca righteous man\u201d \u2013 Matthew 1:19) as his own son, but the New Testament makes clear that Jesus was (and is) the Son of God<\/i>.\u00a0 He taught his disciples to call God \u201cOur Father,\u201d and the Apostle Paul wrote that, as we entrust our lives to Jesus, so we receive \u201cthe Spirit of sonship<\/i> \u2026 by him we cry \u2018Abba (Daddy), Father.\u2019\u201d (Romans 8:15)<\/p>\n
I dare to suggest that, since God has revealed himself to be \u201cFather,\u201d in God\u2019s world, surely the best way we can care for our children is to model that care on the Fatherhood of God.\u00a0\u00a0 And the best way of understanding the Fatherhood of God fully is surely from the perspective of a beloved child.\u00a0 The joyful good news of Christmas is that we can experience this \u2013 \u201cTo those who received [Jesus] \u2026 he gave the right to become children of God,\u201d (John 1:12).\u00a0 So have you received him?\u00a0 Or are you just Taxi?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m sure that many of you will know what it means to be \u201cDad\u2019s Taxi.\u201d\u00a0 As my children have grown, this part of my identity has developed rapidly.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been driving my children around for years, of course, but it would appear to be true that the amount of driving does increase in proportion to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,34],"tags":[21,36,19,11,35],"class_list":["post-100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cultural-comment","category-family-life","tag-christmas","tag-fatherhood","tag-jesus","tag-living-gods-love","tag-parenthood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108,"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions\/108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}