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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nProverbs 1: 8-9 \u201cMy son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Normally when I think of the many things my dad taught me, I think of plumbing, electrical and carpentry skills. Teaching me to fit in was one lesson at which he was, in most cases, unsuccessful. I just never saw the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One day we were installing the electrical system in a new house build in a neighboring county. I was about twelve years old. By then he had taught me how to wire in switches, receptacles and light fixtures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While wiring in a switch in a bathroom, suddenly the 115 volt AC current ran through my unsuspecting body. I probably uttered a few phrases inappropriate for a good little Christian boy to say. Dad came into the room to check on (or reprimand) me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He laughed and nonchalantly said, \u201cThat low voltage won\u2019t hurt you\u201d but I certainly could not agree with him. Numerous times since then I\u2019ve gotten in touch with that voltage and it still hurts but it hasn\u2019t killed me yet. Yes, I learned a very important lesson that day; check the power before handling the copper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daddy forced me to go to church. At that age I\u2019d much rather have been fishing but he had a different opinion and only his opinion mattered in this case. As the years passed, I realized he was right to make me go and I now appreciate him doing that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To raise a child in church may at time seem like an up-hill battle but in the long term, it\u2019s well worth the ordeal. It\u2019s amazing how much smarter our dads are when we hit that twenty-five year old point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the lessons we learn from our fathers are unspoken. By observation we learn as much or more than by other methods, both good and bad. Fortunately, flat phones didn\u2019t exist then so I had to pay attention because at times, there wasn\u2019t anything else to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One very valuable lesson he taught me was, when on the job, if one completes a designated task, do not sit down. Look around for something productive to do. On a carpentry or plumbing job there is always plenty to do. Grab a broom if nothing else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, to prepare for a second vocation is just common sense and like an insurance policy. The first one could go belly-up and a \u201cfall-back-on\u201d skill may prove a life saver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He tried to teach me (by observation) to be courteous. I witnessed him extend courtesies where they may not have been required. He was a gentleman extraordinaire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another basic concept he taught me (unintentionally) was to fit in wherever I happen to be. I\u2019ve preached and taught in homeless missions, prisons, motorcycle rallies, the African jungle, with Aborigines in Australia and many other places and people. Attendance numbers have varied from six to 1500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve talked to two U.S. presidents, senators, and world famous evangelists. They all put their pants on just like we do, one foot and leg at a time. We are all just people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being warned about culture shock before my first mission assignment to East Africa, apprehensive may have been an appropriate description of my thoughts. Seen were many things different from what I was used to but culture shock; never!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dad did tell me, \u201cDon\u2019t ever meet a stranger. They\u2019re all people, just like you are. And never regard someone as being better than you or a lesser person than you. God created us all and in His eyes we are of the same value.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Look a man in the eye when shaking hands and give a firm grip. Respect people until they give you a good reason not to and treat all women as ladies. You don\u2019t have to repay disrespect with disrespect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daddy didn\u2019t get mad at me very often but when he did, he called me \u201cboy!\u201d One day I brought home a bad report card from school. He lit in to me like I had good sense (which at 16 I did not). \u201cBoy\u201d he said, if you\u2019d work on your school subjects like you do guns, fishing lures, baseball and drag racing, you\u2019d make straight A\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut daddy, it\u2019s not my fault, they teach the wrong subjects in school. If they taught guns, fishing lures, baseball and drag racing, I\u2019d make straight A\u2019s.\u201d Of course that went over like a concrete blimp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daddy, like most Christian fathers, taught me John 3: 16. \u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not likely I remember the first time he and I discussed that very important verse in the Bible but I do remember asking him, \u201cBelieve what?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dad said \u201cwhosoever\u201d refers to all people and I certainly believe that. \u201cBegotten\u201d is a word you won\u2019t hear anywhere else and means \u201chere for a specific purpose\u201d or \u201cdesignated\u201d (in Jesus case to save the world).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dad said the Bible is the word of God and it tells us Jesus was born of a virgin in order that He could live a perfect sinless life and be the unblemished blood sacrifice for the sins of the world (Deuteronomy 17: 1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To give us eternal life for simply believing something doesn\u2019t seem like a very high price to pay but the Bible says what the Bible says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I sure miss my dad. Father\u2019s Day is a very special time and an emotional time for me. Time doesn\u2019t heal if healing is forgetting, as many believe. I\u2019m catching myself with tears in my eyes as I type this. Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and commissioned missionary.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Van Yandell Proverbs 1: 8-9 \u201cMy son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"9","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyMlwvMTBcL1Zhbi1ZYW5kZWxsLS5qcGc_Zml0PTI1NiUyQzI1NiZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkRBRERZIFRBVUdIVCBNRSBUTyBGSVQgSU5cdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTBcdTAwYTAiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.UGul0TiACYtMsUalrA7d7JKshg4gI_cU-S3XV4n6c4sMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":26364,"url":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Van-Yandell-.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[11673],"class_list":["post-56258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-daddy-taught-me-to-fit-in"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56258"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56259,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56258\/revisions\/56259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}