3 Things I Give Up Being a Dad

Josh on April 27th, 2009

Being a father of four, you just have to be OK with giving certain things up. Here are three things I’ve not had this week because of my kids:

Drinking water, free of floaties
If you can’t handle some Cheez-Its floating around in the bottom of your Aquafina, you might not want to have kids. It’s been almost 7 years since I’ve had water that went down like … well, water. I like my water chunky.

A dry toilet seat
Three of my four kids are boys, so they pee standing up AND they manage to pee on everything except the lightbulb in the ceiling (but not for lack of effort). Why the bathroom upstairs is carpeted we’ll never know, but we do know it has a bunch of pee on it. My boys are the sole reason we have the carpets cleaned every few months. I wish I knew a tile layer in the church.

A good night’s sleep
With four kids, you can’t really count on a good night’s sleep, either. Between just the normal baby rhythm, bad dreams, sickness and more, it just seems that a full night’s sleep remains elusive. I remember when 10am was a great mark to wake up to – now I’m just happy with 7:30am.

I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Sure, water that you don’t have to chew would be nice. Sitting down on the pot and not jumping back up with an “aggghh!” would be refreshing. Sleeping through the night and even sleeping in would be a luxury I could really use somedays in the craziness of youth ministry. But I’ve heard from so many well-meaning people that it “goes fast” so I’m committed to not miss a thing.

Someday I know I’ll miss it when my water pours boringly down my throat. I’ll miss it when I wake up in the night to check up on the kids and they’re not living with us anymore because they grew up. And I’ll wait with eager anticipation for the day the grandkids get out of diapers and begin to pee in and all over grandpa’s toliet.

My kids make my life richer. My kids keep me humble. My kids are the best thing in the world. I’m commited to spending my life raising them, pouring into them, loving them and helping them have every opportunity to meet Jesus for themselves.

I guess I can give up a few things if I have to. Crap, what is that floating in my drink now?

JG

Comments (16)

Nick Warkentien at 1:47pm April 27

Nice!

steven at 8:17pm April 29

If you haven’t read it or seen it ….stop by the local Barns and Noble or BAM and take look through Let Me Hold You Longer by Karen Kingsburry. A TEAR JERKER!!! But made me as much aware of my daughter’s “lasts” as much as I’ve been aware of her “firsts.”

Let me know if you’ve read or when you have read it…trust me you can only read it once.