FATHERS

Fathers hold a special place here at KHT.  It’s Dad who got this whole thing going over 40 years ago – on a dream to do something special for his family.  Along the way, he and Mom decided to raise a family … all 18 of us!  To this day, even though I was part of it, I can’t imagine the amount of love and effort and caring that went into keeping us all together. Thanks Dad! And many thanks to all the Father’s out there.  Enjoy your special day with family – love your wives, kids, grandkids, great grandkids and if so blessed great great grandkids!  Finally, keep being the role model you know you need to be.  Life is an amazing gift.  I still remember holding each of my wonderful daughters when they were first born and today they are all grown up. I could not be prouder of each of them.  I am one incredibly blessed Dad!

Here’s a favorite of mine, from the famous Paul Harvey, “the rest of the story” archives.  Enjoy!

Paul Harvey on Fathers

A father is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth, without an anesthetic.

A father is a thing that growls when it feels good–and laughs loud when it’s scared half to death.

A father never feels entirely worthy of worship in his child’s eyes. He never is quite the hero his daughter thinks, never quite the man his son believes him to be. This worries him, sometimes, so he works too hard to try and smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who will follow him.

A father is a thing that gets very angry when school grades aren’t as good as he thinks they should be. He scolds his son although he knows it’s the teacher’s fault.

Fathers grow old faster than other people.

And while mothers can cry where it shows, fathers stand there and beam outside–and die inside. Fathers have very stout hearts, so they have to be broken sometimes or no one would know what is inside. Fathers give daughters away to other men who aren’t nearly good enough so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody’s. Fathers fight dragons almost daily. They hurry away from the breakfast table, off to the arena which is sometimes called an office or a workshop…where they tackle the dragon with three heads: Weariness, Work and Monotony.

Knights in shining armor.

Fathers make bets with insurance companies about who will live the longest. Though they know the odds, they keep right on betting. Even as the odds get higher and higher, they keep right on betting more and more.

And one day they lose.

But fathers enjoy an earthly immortality and the bet is paid off to the part of him he leaves behind.

I don’t know where fathers go when they die. But I have an idea that after a good rest, he won’t be happy unless there is work to do. He won’t just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he’s loved and the children she bore. He’ll be busy there, too…oiling the gates, smoothing the way.

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I wish I could have found a recording of Paul Harvey reading this but it just isn’t available. But, HERE is a link to Paul Harvey reading an incredible letter one of his listeners wrote to his late father and wanted to share with everyone.