Dr. Dad

My daughter has been sick this week, and it’s been up to me to be Dr. Dad. I don’t mind it, she’s usually pretty good when she’s sick, her normal self just with more snot. And while I may not have those maternal instincts, I can still blow her nose, give her the proper dose of cough syrup, or hold her hair if she needs it (thank God she hasn’t needed it).

However, the downside of being Dr. Dad is that I don’t get to be Youth Dude. I have been home from work for three days now, showing up just a short while before our Wednesday night service yesterday. And even though things went really well (mainly because of all of my adult volunteers who lead breakout sessions, ran lights and sound, and drove the van to pick up students), I wish that I could have done more. I messed some things up, and couldn’t apply the usual eye for detail that I would prefer. My motto yesterday was “you’re just going to have to forgive me.” It’s hard to be Dr. Dad and Youth Dude at the same time.

I think we spend a lot of time feeling “torn” in that same way. Students have school and parents and friends and sports and jobs and band and church and who knows what else. Adults have kids and spouses and jobs and kids and church and kids that take up lots of time and energy. And somewhere in there we need to make time for God. There is all this pressure to perform in every area of our lives that we don’t always know what to do. What God is teaching me is that no matter what I’m doing, it is an act of worship. I don’t have to be perfect at everything; I just have to focus everything on Him.