THANKS, DAD!

conducts a survey every year to determine the cost of living. They study the spending of 5,000 families to find out how much it costs to raise children in this country. The findings are interesting.

The latest figures I have indicate that if you’re in the average family of their survey, making about $60,000 a year & raising 2 children, it costs you about $11,972 per child per year. And as they get older, it gets more expensive. By the time your child is a teenager, he or she will be costing you $13,253 per year.

Now add that all up, & by the time a child reaches 18 or gets out of high school, you will have spent $223,860 per child, & that doesn’t include college. If they go to college it will cost you about $300,000 per child that you raise. And if you have 2 children, it will almost double that amount.

Think about it! That equals the cost of a small yacht, or a luxury home! So you can look at your kids & say, “There’s goes the yacht that I was going to buy, or the luxury home, or those 6 Mercedes-Benz I wanted.” That’s a lot of money, isn’t it? That’s the reason they say, “Dad’s the guy who has a wallet full of pictures where there used to be money.”

SUM. So if you’re critical of your dad because you thought he didn’t provide enough for you; or you thought you didn’t have all the opportunities other kids had; or you thought you didn’t have the clothes you wanted, or you thought you didn’t go to all the places you wanted to go, you may want to pause this Father’s Day & say, “Thanks, Dad. Thanks for being a good provider.”

II. HE WAS GENEROUS BEYOND WHAT COULD REASONABLY BE EXPECTED

Secondly, this father “Was generous beyond what could reasonably be expected.” Listen to vs’s 11 & 12. “Jesus continued, ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.”

Now if you put that into contemporary language, it would go something like this. Here’s a boy, maybe 18, 19, 20, who comes to his dad & says, “Dad, I’ve calculated it all out & I’ve come to the conclusion that when you die I’m going to inherit about $250,000. Well, I want my share now. I don’t want to wait until you die.”

And to our great surprise, the father gives it to him. That’s exceeding generosity. And we would tend to question his wisdom. But I think the father probably knew some things that you & I don’t know.

He knew that his son was going to the far country anyway. He knew there were lessons his son had to learn on his own. He knew what was best for those who stayed behind. So he gave him his inheritance. Now that’s generosity!

Has your dad been generous to you? Does he provide food & clothing & shelter for you? Is he generous with his time? Does he talk with you & share with you?

ILL. Erma Bombeck wrote this about her dad: “My Daddy just didn’t know how to show love. It was Mom who held the family together. He just went to work every day & when he came home she had a list of sins we’d committed, & he would give us what-for about them.

I broke my leg once on a swing set. It was Mom who held me in her arms all the way to the hospital. Dad pulled the car right up to the emergency door & when they asked him to move it because the space was reserved for emergency vehicles, he shouted, “What do you