Fathering Impact

What impact did a father make in your life? You may have had more than one father, or no father. You may not have thought much about this or thoughts of your father seldom leave your mind. I suspect that fathering has made an impact in your life, whether you are aware of it or not.

Fatherlessness has made a significant impact on our society. Ten years ago, David Blackenhorn declared in his book, Fatherless America, that fatherlessness was America's most urgent social problem. How are we doing as a society ten years later? Not much has changed. Children from fatherless homes are:

• 5 times more likely to commit suicide
• 32 times more likely to run away
• 20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders
• 14 times more likely to commit rape
• 9 times more likely to drop out of high school
• 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances
• 9 times more likely to end up in a state-operated institution
• 20 times more likely to end up in prison.

These are just a few fathering statistics that should be alarming. Fatherlessness, ten years later, is still an epidemic. In the past ten years, there have been many good books written and programs started to address this problem. However, like many societal problems, we may be getting desensitized.

What impact did a father make in your life? If you had a positive relationship with your dad, spread the good news. If you suffered abandonment, abuse, or apathy; you probably need spiritual healing to address your father wound.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Psalm 68:5