Fatherhood as Divine Imitation

Parents know that the training of our little ones does not begin when they reach some mythical age of accountability but rather when they are born.

I am working on revising my little work on fatherhood, published eleven years ago. It’s a rewarding and humbling process, especially to see how my writing has evolved and how much more clearly I understand things now, having been a father for 17 years. I hope subscribers enjoy these revisions, which will eventually be re-published with additional chapters (including a chapter on the Singing Father). All paid subscribers will receive a PDF copy of the revised book once it is completed, and I hope to send out several physical copies as well.

If you want to follow the progress, here is the revised introduction. For those who are not paid subscribers, I’d be happy to comp you for 90 days so you can follow along. Send me your email via Substack.

Chapter One

Imitating God

“Every real thing is a joy, if only you have eyes and ears to relish it, a nose and tongue to taste it.”

–Robert Farrar Capon

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

– C.S. Lewis

God looks at history as a Father. Our Father in heaven is hallowed in his story, and so are all those united to that sacred story. History is not cruel to the children of God. Look how great a love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God (I John 3:1). History takes us from glory to glory to our Father’s side, basking in his eternal love through Jesus Christ. But though history is not cruel, and while God’s children dwell in his steadfast love, it is also not safe for the children of God. Much like Aslan in C.S. Lewis’s fiction, history is not safe, but it is good. History displays a dangerous God who is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29).