Super Daddy
One of my favorite comics of the past decade was Calvin and Hobbes. This cartoon followed the adventures of a young boy and his pet (stuffed?) tiger. One of the most memorable story lines in the comics was when Calvin would ask his father a question and his father, not knowing the answer, would make one up. In particular I remember a strip where Calvin asks his dad how they know the load limits on bridges, to which his father replies, “They drive bigger and bigger trucks over the bridge until it breaks. Then they weigh the last truck and rebuild the bridge.”
I had a particular fondness for these storylines because I grew up in a house with a father who did the same thing. So it is no wonder that I have had my own personal amusement doing the same thing with my two daughters. Quite often they will ask me a question and I will make up the answer. Apparently this has become a family tradition that is passed down from generation to generation but it is a tradition to which we have added our own little flair. Now after receiving an answer one of the girls will normally ask, “how do you know that?” To which I reply “I’m Super Daddy!” I accompany this statement with a Superman pose (hands on hips and chest puffed out). One of them usually says something like “you’re the stronger than the whole world.” To which the other will correct, “except for God.” “Right except for God and Jesus” answers the other.
I must admit that as they have grown up I’ve very much enjoyed being Super Daddy in their eyes. It is an amazing thing to be a hero to your children. To have them come to you with any problem or fear or need and firmly believe in their heart that you can help them is nothing short of remarkable. And I wish I could, I wish I could do anything they needed. The problem of course, is that as they’ve gotten older I’ve begun to let them down.
It starts simply enough, one-day one of them asks if I can lift a car or tree out of the ground? Next it is can I make someone at school stop picking on her? The final failure is when I can’t make their hurt or fear or pain go away. Sometimes being Super Daddy is a tough job. It would be a lot easier if I really were a perfect father.
Which makes me wonder what it would be like to be a perfect father… and wonder what it would be like to have a perfect father. Which of course makes me think of God.
At the end of His Sermon on the Mount Jesus says an amazing thing about our heavenly Father. “ "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11)
I find this to be amazing because Jesus describes God as a Father who loves to do anything he can for his children. Jesus describes Him as a Father who loves to have His children come to him with every problem or fear or need. And because He actually is the perfect Father he can do something about it. He can make the hurt and fear and pain go away. He can and He does.
Today is Father’s Day and I’m positive that included in our family’s celebration I will get a card or two addressed to Super Daddy. And it will make me smile and feel grateful that I am still Super Daddy for another year, at least in the eyes of my daughters. It will remind me of my father and how even when he didn’t have an answer he always tried to do what he could. But it will also remind me of the perfect Father that I have in heaven, the one who does anything for me. Including sending His very own Son to save me…. to make the hurt and fear and pain go away.
Happy Father’s Day!
Super Daddy
