A good father takes time to play 00:00:01.36\00:00:03.43 He has strong integrity 00:00:05.33\00:00:06.77 He is someone that is truly dedicated 00:00:07.90\00:00:10.01 He is not afraid to show his love 00:00:12.11\00:00:13.78 He is a caring provider 00:00:15.78\00:00:17.51 And he's a kind, spiritual leader 00:00:19.91\00:00:22.35 These are just a few ways to describe a father's heart 00:00:22.88\00:00:26.15 Hi, welcome to A Father's Heart I'm your host Xavier 00:00:30.33\00:00:33.19 and today's topic is It's Not Too Late 00:00:33.23\00:00:35.86 Overcoming the fear of being in your child's life 00:00:35.90\00:00:38.53 And with me to talk about that today are Denry and Gordon 00:00:38.57\00:00:42.60 How are you guys doing today? 00:00:42.64\00:00:43.97 Doing great, real good 00:00:44.01\00:00:45.44 So overcoming fear, a lot of single mothers out there without 00:00:45.77\00:00:50.35 the father next to them and a lot of fathers do want to come 00:00:50.38\00:00:53.55 back. But a lot of times maybe they're afraid they don't 00:00:53.58\00:00:56.52 know how. What can we do to help them understand that 00:00:56.55\00:01:01.82 it's ok to come back. Do you really think they're afraid? 00:01:01.86\00:01:06.06 That's what I'm actually thinkin about. Are they really afraid 00:01:06.86\00:01:10.40 of comin back. I don't think they're afraid, I think 00:01:10.43\00:01:14.64 there may be circumstances that's keepin them from comin 00:01:14.67\00:01:18.21 back. Or, if they're afraid it is because they feel they're not 00:01:19.11\00:01:23.48 adequate enough or they feel that because I have left 00:01:23.51\00:01:28.62 the child for so long, now to come back in the child's life 00:01:29.48\00:01:34.19 am I going to be rejected by the child? 00:01:34.22\00:01:36.89 For example, my nephew. His father's been out of his life 00:01:36.93\00:01:42.43 for a long time and no matter what the mom tried to do 00:01:42.46\00:01:46.90 the father would not get into the child's life 00:01:46.94\00:01:49.04 so I guess he has laid it down, he called and my nephew was 00:01:49.07\00:01:54.24 gonna go visit him but my nephew said, you know what 00:01:54.28\00:01:56.64 I don't wanna do it. So it's not that the father might not 00:01:56.68\00:02:01.78 might want to come back, but he's almost 19 00:02:01.82\00:02:06.32 so you've been out of the life for so long so I think that is 00:02:06.35\00:02:09.99 the fear of rejection from the child. I think that is probably 00:02:10.03\00:02:14.30 the issue. I think it's an excuse. I mean, you know, yes 00:02:14.33\00:02:18.40 there may be some fair rejection or whatever the situation was 00:02:18.43\00:02:21.77 with the mother but I think it's an excuse. I had a situation 00:02:21.80\00:02:24.31 that went down. I had a father who is maybe in his 50s 00:02:24.34\00:02:29.58 and his son is maybe almost 30 and same thing. He wasn't 00:02:29.61\00:02:35.15 involved in his child's life and he was so kind of correspondence 00:02:35.18\00:02:40.39 was able to get in contact with the child. And the child, 00:02:40.42\00:02:43.53 basically the son who is now an adult was like, you know 00:02:43.56\00:02:47.40 was willing to try but the father was like, no I think 00:02:47.43\00:02:51.93 it's too late. You've done so good without me, you know 00:02:51.97\00:02:56.54 you don't need my in your life. I've made a mess of my life 00:02:56.57\00:02:59.67 you've done better with your life. So I think they try to 00:02:59.71\00:03:02.54 make excuses. Some of us men try to make excuses and we don't 00:03:02.58\00:03:08.05 want the responsibility. I think that's what the bottom 00:03:08.08\00:03:11.12 I don't know if it's necessarily fear. I think we just don't want 00:03:11.15\00:03:14.59 the responsibility that a real taking care of the child is 00:03:14.62\00:03:18.69 Is it because that he felt that he has messed up his life 00:03:18.73\00:03:23.70 so he's like I don't want to get back in his life to mess it up 00:03:23.73\00:03:27.07 He's done well by himself so leave him alone 00:03:27.10\00:03:29.64 so it might be just that, that he doesn't want to mess it up 00:03:29.67\00:03:34.51 But I mean fear can be paralyzing. I know a lotta times 00:03:34.54\00:03:38.95 when we're fearful, especially as men, we were never afraid 00:03:38.98\00:03:43.42 we never want to face that fear. We'd rather discard it and say 00:03:43.45\00:03:47.06 I just won't deal with it. But the 'IT' they're talking about 00:03:47.09\00:03:51.16 is your child. Maybe afraid to come back and have to face the 00:03:51.19\00:03:56.50 mother. Come back and face shame. Come back and in some 00:03:56.53\00:04:01.17 cases, or many cases, face child support, face the court 00:04:01.20\00:04:05.24 You know fear is a drivin factor for many men that are missing 00:04:05.27\00:04:09.21 in their child's life. The fear of not having the respect 00:04:09.24\00:04:12.81 fear of rejection, like you said Fear comes in many different 00:04:12.85\00:04:18.55 forms and it can be paralyzing and it can also be a cop-out 00:04:18.59\00:04:21.82 like we said. But, what if there are elements of fear that drive 00:04:21.86\00:04:26.93 these men to stay away rather than not facing their fears 00:04:26.96\00:04:30.17 they'd just rather pretend that it doesn't exist 00:04:30.20\00:04:33.90 If that father, if that man wants to come back in the 00:04:33.94\00:04:37.37 child's life and there's that fear I think that the one thing 00:04:37.41\00:04:41.28 that he needs to do is to seek some counsel so he can get over 00:04:41.31\00:04:46.82 that fear. There was a young lady I was counseling with and 00:04:46.85\00:04:52.12 her father's been out of her life, she longs to have a father 00:04:52.15\00:04:56.02 in her life. But he doesn't want to come back in her life 00:04:56.06\00:05:00.70 He left and now he just can't see his way back in her life 00:05:00.73\00:05:08.20 and it pains her every time. Now he tried to come back 00:05:08.24\00:05:13.98 but he went and did the same thing. He left. 00:05:14.01\00:05:18.05 And I think he did more damage than good. So he needs to be 00:05:18.08\00:05:23.55 fixed. Whatever the issue, what ever he's dealing with 00:05:23.59\00:05:27.69 he needs to get it resolved. Go to counseling, seeking some 00:05:27.72\00:05:31.06 counsel as to resolve that. Get himself strong so that he can 00:05:31.09\00:05:35.30 get back and be a positive example in that young lady's 00:05:35.33\00:05:39.43 life, or in a child's life. 00:05:39.47\00:05:44.04 Once again, I really think it's an excuse. Tryin to avoid the 00:05:45.01\00:05:49.11 responsibility. There was a documentary on an infamous 00:05:49.14\00:05:53.62 gangster and he told his story of his father in his life 00:05:54.42\00:06:00.49 he said the only time he remembered this one thing 00:06:00.52\00:06:03.22 his father came picked him up from his mother's house 00:06:03.26\00:06:05.19 took him to a hotel, gave him some money, left, never seen 00:06:05.23\00:06:11.53 him again. He was 12 years old 00:06:11.57\00:06:13.77 I think some of them just want to avoid the responsibility 00:06:15.34\00:06:19.24 they really do. We can call it fear, we can call it all 00:06:19.27\00:06:25.41 I think they just don't want the responsibility 00:06:25.45\00:06:28.68 or, and if you want to give them something, some of them 00:06:28.72\00:06:33.25 their track records or their fathers and grandfathers 00:06:33.29\00:06:36.02 they're just following the example of their culture 00:06:36.06\00:06:38.46 or the other men around them. You know you have some cultures 00:06:38.49\00:06:41.90 you're like man, do you read a book or Bible or something 00:06:41.93\00:06:47.64 you know in some cultures where the men are just absolutely not 00:06:47.67\00:06:51.61 involved in the children's life and they're still married to the 00:06:51.64\00:06:55.34 woman but they come home from work or wherever they came from 00:06:55.38\00:06:59.38 sometime they came home not even from work, they're out all day 00:06:59.41\00:07:02.98 they come home, their interaction with the children is 00:07:03.02\00:07:06.12 did you do your homework? No? Brush your teeth and go to bed 00:07:06.15\00:07:09.59 That's it, every day. Play - that's for mom. 00:07:09.62\00:07:14.23 Food - mom, bonding - mom Dad - all I do is just check on 00:07:14.26\00:07:18.73 you. Did you eat, ok, fed, that's it. 00:07:18.77\00:07:21.90 But if I really want to come back in my child's life 00:07:21.94\00:07:24.87 I will make every effort that I can to do it. 00:07:24.91\00:07:28.18 So yes it will be an excuse if that father does not want to 00:07:28.21\00:07:31.98 come back into the child's life. But really, if the father 00:07:32.01\00:07:36.25 realizes that the best thing for me is to be involved in 00:07:36.28\00:07:40.12 my child's life then you need to first start talkin with the 00:07:40.16\00:07:46.23 mother. Start there and once you start talkin, opening those 00:07:46.26\00:07:51.53 lines of communication, then you reach out to the child 00:07:51.57\00:07:54.94 It might be for 5 minutes or 3 minutes at first 00:07:54.97\00:07:59.27 just to get reacquainted and then sometimes when you get 00:07:59.31\00:08:05.11 to that point that child will want to know that why want you 00:08:05.15\00:08:08.65 in my life. You need to man up so that you can literally 00:08:08.68\00:08:13.15 sit down and say this is what I'm dealin with so that the 00:08:13.19\00:08:18.69 child knows this is what the dad is dealing with. And so 00:08:18.73\00:08:22.46 those are the things might be one of the reasons why 00:08:22.50\00:08:26.33 I was saying they're just afraid or they just don't wanna 00:08:26.37\00:08:30.41 come clean with what they're dealin with and why they left 00:08:30.44\00:08:33.61 in the first place, because that question will be asked 00:08:33.64\00:08:37.11 by a child. Excuse me, I'm gonna grab the pillow on this one 00:08:37.15\00:08:41.42 because this is personal. You know I hear you guys stories 00:08:41.45\00:08:46.12 your father's unfortunately deceased but your father's still 00:08:46.15\00:08:49.79 in your life. This is real to me. This topic is real to me 00:08:49.82\00:08:53.09 because in my situation you know when we were in Jamaica, you 00:08:53.13\00:08:57.93 know he was in and out, in and out you know, in and out but he 00:08:57.97\00:09:03.81 didn't have any great examples at all. I'm here now in the US 00:09:03.84\00:09:09.04 I receive a call now and then from him. Every once in a while 00:09:09.08\00:09:12.45 And he's always asking me for something. 00:09:13.78\00:09:16.82 That's my relationship with him. You know, I would, I would 00:09:18.39\00:09:23.66 love to, I mean once in a while we may talk and have a 00:09:23.69\00:09:27.10 conversation and sometimes I put the kids, my children 00:09:27.13\00:09:31.87 on the phone while I'm talkin but he's so out of touch with 00:09:31.90\00:09:36.20 them that even my children don't know who this is. 00:09:36.24\00:09:39.27 I have to keep re-introducing him to them, cause they know 00:09:40.78\00:09:45.41 my step father and they call him dad, they see how we interact 00:09:45.45\00:09:49.48 but when my real father calls me I have to re-introduce him to 00:09:49.52\00:09:55.19 to them and sometimes you could see, he wants to but then he 00:09:55.22\00:09:59.86 know how to and all that and sometimes I'm just like, just 00:09:59.89\00:10:03.10 listen to them. Just ask them their age, ask them what school 00:10:03.13\00:10:07.94 they go to, you know just talk to them. You know, ask me that 00:10:07.97\00:10:14.41 what am I doing myself? Don't always call to ask me for money 00:10:14.44\00:10:19.11 and then I was helpin him because I was tryin to hold on 00:10:19.15\00:10:22.18 to the little bit, ok at least he needs me so I was sending 00:10:22.22\00:10:28.29 money and then I feel guilty because I'm like sometimes 00:10:28.32\00:10:31.73 there would be some hard times especially when I was in school 00:10:31.76\00:10:34.23 you know you've been in school, sometimes all you got is $5 left 00:10:34.26\00:10:38.17 sometimes and then you get this call. Whatever you can send 00:10:38.20\00:10:42.84 But I'm like I have children at home, I have children at home 00:10:43.51\00:10:47.61 that need food on the table and all I have is enough just for 00:10:47.64\00:10:51.21 them. I want to take care of you but I have to take care of them 00:10:51.25\00:10:57.39 You didn't do that for me and like I said it's hard to say its 00:10:58.59\00:11:05.49 complain that he was fully absent. We moved from the 00:11:05.53\00:11:08.33 country but for the time we were in Jamaica or whatever, he was 00:11:08.36\00:11:12.33 in and out. He played a lot of hide and go seek with me 00:11:12.37\00:11:16.77 more hidin than seekin and now I have my own children 00:11:16.81\00:11:23.31 I am taking care of my family. I don't want to have this 00:11:23.35\00:11:28.18 relationship where it's just about you just call me for a 00:11:28.22\00:11:30.99 handout. I want, hey tell me about your dad, tell me about 00:11:31.02\00:11:36.22 things you went through as a child. I don't know none of 00:11:36.26\00:11:38.36 those Gordon. I don't know none of that stuff. 00:11:38.39\00:11:40.76 Have you ever asked him? 00:11:40.80\00:11:42.96 I asked him and it just goes like, rumble, rumble. Yeah you 00:11:43.87\00:11:48.90 have a sister, yeah a sister blah, blah 00:11:48.94\00:11:51.87 and then go back to. 00:11:51.91\00:11:56.01 It's empty. It's empty. So sometimes that's why I said 00:11:56.04\00:12:00.72 I don't think it's the whole fear thing. You guys can 00:12:00.75\00:12:03.39 polish it up. I'm not polishing it up. It's I don't want to be 00:12:03.42\00:12:07.26 responsible for you. I don't want to be responsible that's it 00:12:07.29\00:12:10.59 Have you asked him what he's afraid of? 00:12:10.63\00:12:12.99 No. I mean, like I said, it's really difficult when he calls 00:12:13.03\00:12:17.70 sometimes I really, and you can be mad at me, the world could be 00:12:17.73\00:12:20.54 mad at me, he can be mad at me I see his number on my phone 00:12:20.57\00:12:23.77 I see his name and I don't respond. 00:12:23.81\00:12:26.11 And I'm scared because when I'm hearing your story now 00:12:27.11\00:12:30.08 of when, because my dad has, he does have diabetes 00:12:31.51\00:12:34.85 But two things, I don't want to answer and say I don't have the 00:12:36.08\00:12:41.66 money because sometimes I don't and then second I don't want 00:12:41.69\00:12:46.03 just that's it, that's the only time we have a relationship 00:12:46.06\00:12:49.30 So I rather sometimes just not answer 00:12:49.33\00:12:51.00 Maybe you need to tell him that 00:12:51.03\00:12:52.67 You just need to straight up I've tried, I've tried, I can't 00:12:52.70\00:12:56.10 muster it. I even talked to my counselor about it, I can't 00:12:56.14\00:12:59.77 muster it. It can't come out. Because I still want something 00:12:59.81\00:13:05.81 and this is all I get, So I'm like ok I'll just settle with it 00:13:05.85\00:13:09.85 I'll just settle with it. But then at the same time 00:13:11.05\00:13:13.72 he needs help sometimes and I can't sometimes but sometimes 00:13:13.76\00:13:18.53 I can and then I say, man I can do this for my children 00:13:18.56\00:13:21.36 my children, my wife. I'm not trying to be selfish and 00:13:21.40\00:13:24.73 understand what I'm sayin. It hurts. It really does hurt 00:13:25.87\00:13:29.40 I really does hurt when you don't have your father 00:13:29.44\00:13:33.58 you see what I'm sayin, when you don't have your father 00:13:34.98\00:13:37.05 this thing hurts. No one can take his place. I have my 00:13:37.08\00:13:40.82 stepfather, I thank God for him. He came in but he's not my 00:13:40.85\00:13:44.85 biological father. He doesn't look like me. When I look in 00:13:44.89\00:13:48.76 the mirror I see my dad, I don't see my stepfather 00:13:48.79\00:13:51.96 When I look at pictures I see my dad. There are things goin 00:13:53.13\00:13:56.16 on in me inside that I would like to know did that go on with 00:13:56.20\00:14:00.77 you too? So this stuff hurts 00:14:00.80\00:14:03.41 So when fathers are absent in their children's lives whether 00:14:03.81\00:14:08.01 because it's a macho thing not to be involved or you scared 00:14:08.04\00:14:13.01 or you and the baby mother, whatever the situation 00:14:13.05\00:14:16.85 you are hurtin a child and some of us we move on with our lives 00:14:16.89\00:14:22.46 let me stop, I'm gettin upset about it, I really am 00:14:22.49\00:14:26.49 Really I'm gettin upset, it hurts man 00:14:27.50\00:14:30.37 It really hurts. Yeah, I understand 00:14:30.40\00:14:34.04 I think you know, a lot of times it's definitely a cop out 00:14:35.00\00:14:38.97 and I think you we need to look at the fact that 00:14:39.01\00:14:42.98 a lot of men use fear, and because we're not taught to 00:14:43.01\00:14:46.28 deal with fear we just hurt our children. We choose to say 00:14:46.31\00:14:52.75 I'm afraid, I'm scared instead of sayin I need help 00:14:52.79\00:14:57.79 I don't know how to get back in my child's life, please help me 00:14:57.83\00:15:01.13 we just say you know I won't do it at all, not knowing that our 00:15:01.16\00:15:04.90 child, whether child or grown man is still waiting 00:15:04.93\00:15:08.50 these children grow up, become men and women and are still 00:15:08.54\00:15:13.61 waiting for that moment. There are children out there that 00:15:13.64\00:15:18.38 become, that grow up and become adults and then something 00:15:18.41\00:15:22.25 happens and that chance never comes. 00:15:22.28\00:15:26.79 And that's the most selfish thing a parent could ever do 00:15:27.06\00:15:30.89 a child's father could ever do to a child. 00:15:30.93\00:15:33.60 I understand, a lot of times, yes fear is a deciding factor 00:15:34.36\00:15:38.47 for a lot of people. I mean when we get lost and ask for 00:15:38.50\00:15:42.14 directions a lot of times we're afraid to ask. That's a form of 00:15:42.17\00:15:45.51 fear and we don't because our ego, same thing with fathers 00:15:45.54\00:15:48.38 that are absent. They feel lost some of them just don't wanna be 00:15:48.41\00:15:52.85 but the ones that try to be they let that fear, whatever 00:15:53.65\00:15:57.92 you want to call it overpower them and then just don't show up 00:15:57.95\00:16:01.06 and eventually they never, God forbid, eventually that's 00:16:01.86\00:16:06.29 they may never see their child again. And it's for what? 00:16:06.33\00:16:09.00 Like I said early on that father needs to get help. There is 00:16:09.76\00:16:17.77 something that is blockin that whatever that relation, 00:16:17.81\00:16:22.04 reachin back, reachin out to that child and maybe 00:16:22.08\00:16:26.01 that father, some of them just have children too early 00:16:26.05\00:16:30.09 at an early age and have never dealt with whatever's goin on 00:16:30.12\00:16:34.72 inside of them. I think that's where it needs to start 00:16:34.76\00:16:37.46 They need to be able to deal with what's goin on inside 00:16:37.49\00:16:39.93 of them before they can even reach out to create a 00:16:39.96\00:16:43.33 relationship. Because your father might reach out and 00:16:43.37\00:16:47.00 to start that relationship but because he's messed up 00:16:47.04\00:16:50.37 he might mess you up more because of some of the things 00:16:50.41\00:16:54.18 that he would say. If he has not dealt with what he is dealin 00:16:54.21\00:16:57.78 what he's facin, I've had a lot of people who had the same 00:16:57.81\00:17:05.05 situation where their fathers are not comin in their lives or 00:17:05.09\00:17:09.79 for whatever reason and the one thing that I, that we keep 00:17:09.82\00:17:13.60 comin back to is the fact that whenever that father re-enters 00:17:13.63\00:17:18.40 that person's life they leave more scars 00:17:18.43\00:17:24.64 because they have not been healed. 00:17:24.67\00:17:26.68 You know I hear what you've been saying and I'm really tryin to 00:17:26.71\00:17:30.45 hold it, this is really hard. Some of them they went out of 00:17:30.48\00:17:37.65 the, either step out of the grounds of marriage or 00:17:37.69\00:17:41.16 as teenagers or whatever not bein faithful to God, 00:17:41.19\00:17:44.63 livin in sin, have a child out of wedlock 00:17:44.66\00:17:47.36 And some of them do try and some of them don't whatever 00:17:47.40\00:17:49.90 But I'm talkin about the fathers and I'm speakin against my 00:17:49.93\00:17:54.84 filthy culture as a West Indian and as a Black man 00:17:54.87\00:17:58.01 I'm talkin about the fathers who just go and have children 00:17:58.04\00:18:02.04 for one house and move to the next house and have children 00:18:02.08\00:18:04.65 and move to the next house and you don't invest nothing in your 00:18:04.68\00:18:07.52 child's life. And then when life turns on you and you're hurt 00:18:07.55\00:18:13.49 now you want help from them? 00:18:14.56\00:18:17.46 I'll never forget Gordon, this whole calling someone Daddy 00:18:17.49\00:18:23.20 for me, when my stepfather called me son, that meant the 00:18:23.23\00:18:28.50 world to me, it changed my world. When I was younger 00:18:28.54\00:18:32.17 I was put in a position that I resent on both sides 00:18:32.21\00:18:38.51 my mother told me to call my stepfather Dad 00:18:38.55\00:18:42.68 Daddy whatever because my sister was about to be born 00:18:42.72\00:18:46.79 and so that she can hear me calling him Daddy, right 00:18:46.82\00:18:51.26 and be used to it and I was like, he's not my dad 00:18:51.29\00:18:54.96 then I go to Jamaica to visit my real father 00:18:55.66\00:18:59.23 who's not been in my life 00:18:59.27\00:19:02.07 and now this man is comin in my life; my real father's not 00:19:02.10\00:19:06.17 been in my life and I remember I called him his name 00:19:06.21\00:19:09.58 he was walking, we were at my great grandmother's funeral 00:19:11.75\00:19:13.98 he was walking, he turned towards me and told me 00:19:14.02\00:19:16.38 don't you ever call me by my name, you call me daddy 00:19:16.42\00:19:19.02 But I'm saying to myself you didn't earn that 00:19:19.89\00:19:22.49 You didn't earn that. Now my stepfather after years of me 00:19:23.46\00:19:28.26 givin him a hard time, we both back and forth, whatever 00:19:28.30\00:19:30.40 he neglected me and you know a hard time he's earned that title 00:19:30.43\00:19:33.64 I can call him daddy because he was there 00:19:34.50\00:19:38.57 he wasn't perfect, no. But he was there but I can't call my 00:19:38.61\00:19:42.41 father my dad. I can't. It's not personal. Yeah I call him 00:19:42.44\00:19:46.98 my father cause that's biological, that's his title 00:19:47.02\00:19:49.28 you brought me into this world but I can't call you daddy 00:19:49.32\00:19:53.12 because you weren't daddy 00:19:54.59\00:19:58.33 This guy, he's daddy. You're father. 00:19:58.36\00:20:01.56 You're father and I see when you read in the Scripture why 00:20:01.60\00:20:05.17 Romans 8 says we can call God both daddy which is Abba 00:20:05.20\00:20:11.97 and father because He deserves both of them 00:20:12.91\00:20:16.34 He was personal, he was down there. You ever see your child 00:20:17.35\00:20:22.12 cry daddy, daddy. It's personal and when your child wants 00:20:22.15\00:20:27.56 to brag and tell everybody that's my father you know, 00:20:27.59\00:20:29.82 that's my father. So God the Father has deserved that 00:20:29.86\00:20:34.76 and He, I know He'll heal my heart and for those young men 00:20:35.36\00:20:39.13 and young ladies out there whose father just went from, I have a 00:20:39.17\00:20:42.80 cousin whose father has 11 children. I have a friend whose 00:20:42.84\00:20:48.04 father has 30 some children, for what? 00:20:48.08\00:20:51.35 So for those children whose father was goin from house to 00:20:52.68\00:20:58.32 house and never was involved in the child, you have a Father 00:20:58.35\00:21:02.42 and you have a Daddy. And He's God in heaven, the same Father 00:21:02.46\00:21:07.26 that Jesus had and trust me there's no joy 00:21:07.30\00:21:12.40 more sweeter than having him in your life. 00:21:12.43\00:21:15.24 I like what you said though, culture. Culture, It's sad 00:21:15.27\00:21:19.87 that we've created this epidemic into a culture 00:21:19.91\00:21:23.85 My wife, her father's not in her life. 00:21:23.88\00:21:28.65 He's somewhere we just don't know where. 00:21:29.58\00:21:32.45 You know I'm old fashioned, I wanted to ask for her hand in 00:21:33.25\00:21:35.56 marriage and ask his permission 00:21:35.59\00:21:37.43 Even the government probably can't find him, he's so MIA 00:21:38.76\00:21:41.43 he's Missing In Action. And he's out there having kids 00:21:41.46\00:21:47.54 and he's old and my wife you know, I see what it does to her 00:21:47.57\00:21:53.17 even though I love her, she's a strong woman, I know 00:21:53.21\00:21:56.91 and I see what it does to her and it angers me, it really does 00:21:56.95\00:22:03.15 How can you bring yourself to procreate and leave a wake 00:22:03.95\00:22:10.46 of destruction and call yourself a man and a father. You're not 00:22:10.49\00:22:16.00 a father. You're just a machine that's out there pro-creating 00:22:16.03\00:22:19.97 You know I think that's one of the things we need to deal with 00:22:21.17\00:22:24.97 as men who either come from that background or have somebody 00:22:25.01\00:22:28.74 cause I've seen that in my own family. My mom told me you know 00:22:28.78\00:22:33.38 the day I did something like that's the day she'd take me 00:22:33.42\00:22:35.88 out of this world. You know, we we need to, as men deal with 00:22:35.92\00:22:40.26 those and the anger. 00:22:40.29\00:22:41.62 And they treated us Gordon as though we were notches on 00:22:42.29\00:22:46.83 their belt. And they'd go around and the thing about, the reason 00:22:46.86\00:22:51.53 why I notice because as a young teenager I wanted to 00:22:51.57\00:22:54.84 do that because all the men in my family were doin that 00:22:54.87\00:22:58.91 because of the culture, culture. So when I was about 10-12 years 00:22:58.94\00:23:04.38 old and one of my uncles had a child at 16, I was like 00:23:04.41\00:23:07.32 Yes! When I get 16 I'm gonna have a child but then 00:23:07.35\00:23:10.52 the reality, I had a breakdown, my step dad and I 00:23:10.55\00:23:13.46 and I said, uh uh I don't want nobody else raisin my child 00:23:13.49\00:23:17.09 and it's the Lord who smacked me on the back of my head 00:23:18.23\00:23:20.73 and said, uh uh, Enough. We're not gonna keep these generations 00:23:20.76\00:23:25.60 cycle and cycle. Uh uh. I need you to stop it. 00:23:25.63\00:23:30.21 I need you to demonstrate now and so we waited until we got 00:23:30.24\00:23:34.14 married and we had our children after we were married 00:23:34.18\00:23:37.31 and it's a joy to go home to them. 00:23:37.35\00:23:40.02 It's a joy. I long to see them and it's a joy to go home 00:23:40.52\00:23:45.29 to my children. But this is not only a West Indian culture 00:23:45.32\00:23:49.59 it's the American culture, it's the world culture 00:23:49.62\00:23:52.29 Everybody. Where men just have these notches on their belts 00:23:52.33\00:23:56.26 and then the children are left to face the repercussions 00:23:56.30\00:24:01.74 of the mess but on the second hand of this whole issue 00:24:01.77\00:24:10.01 how does that child react when that father wants to come back 00:24:11.15\00:24:14.78 in their life. That child needs to be open to receive that 00:24:14.82\00:24:19.79 father if the father wants to come back in their life 00:24:19.82\00:24:22.79 No matter if they messed up, messed up real bad 00:24:22.82\00:24:26.09 You know in my, people that I know, I don't want to call names 00:24:26.13\00:24:33.20 people that I know here, taking care of the father who didn't 00:24:33.84\00:24:40.24 take care of them, now in that old age 00:24:40.28\00:24:45.18 and it's that gotta take care of the father and to find out 00:24:45.21\00:24:48.92 that not only are they taking care of the father 00:24:48.95\00:24:52.55 them and some others, but somebody who they thought 00:24:52.59\00:24:59.23 was a family member is a brother. 00:24:59.26\00:25:07.10 So there's all kinds of stuff that's goin on in homes 00:25:07.94\00:25:12.34 but sometimes God will allow this thing to come full circle 00:25:12.37\00:25:17.45 Sittin in your lap, your father is callin you when he needs you 00:25:17.91\00:25:20.85 for help. How're you gonna respond to that? 00:25:20.88\00:25:24.59 Yes it's hurtful, yes it's hard, yes it's difficult 00:25:25.42\00:25:29.39 but how does God expect you to respond to that? 00:25:29.42\00:25:31.99 I see how my wife responds to stuff. 00:25:33.33\00:25:35.96 She's taking care of her dad 00:25:36.00\00:25:39.33 So I know it's possible but you've got to get to that point 00:25:41.57\00:25:45.37 But the thing is too again, you can't wait till it's too late 00:25:46.07\00:25:50.25 True. That's the problem. Waiting till it's too late 00:25:50.28\00:25:53.72 so either the child or children die or the father dies 00:25:53.75\00:25:57.49 We're waiting till it's too late so even if the father doesn't 00:25:58.05\00:26:02.79 step up, as a man of God why don't we, as much as it's gonna 00:26:02.82\00:26:07.66 hurt, but if my God, my Jesus took 3 nails and 00:26:07.70\00:26:13.87 a crown of thorns we need to try our hardest to reach out 00:26:13.90\00:26:19.47 And if my God and your God and your God can embrace us when 00:26:19.51\00:26:25.65 we mess up what are we to do when somebody else messes up? 00:26:25.68\00:26:32.99 We've got to meet them with grace, the same grace 00:26:33.82\00:26:38.26 that our God extends to us. We're gonna make mistakes 00:26:38.29\00:26:43.03 People are gonna mess up but I think when they're tryin 00:26:43.06\00:26:46.00 to come back, in whatever way, we need to be able to embrace 00:26:46.03\00:26:50.11 them. We need to embrace them with love 00:26:50.14\00:26:53.14 Thank you guys. This is a hard hitting topic. Thank you 00:26:53.71\00:26:57.65 Thank you. We definitely gotta pick it up again 00:26:57.68\00:27:01.12 To our viewers out there, if you have any questions 00:27:02.02\00:27:05.25 send them in to AFH@3ABN.ORG 00:27:05.29\00:27:08.49 Again, AFH@3ABN.ORG 00:27:09.46\00:27:11.49 But it doesn't matter whether you call it fear, cop out 00:27:11.53\00:27:14.96 an excuse, fear drives sometimes people to do nothing 00:27:15.00\00:27:20.17 do not let the fear of coming back in your child's life 00:27:21.10\00:27:25.11 overpower you. God says He does not give us the spirit of fear 00:27:25.14\00:27:29.28 and even if you don't serve God overcome your fear and find 00:27:29.31\00:27:35.72 your child. Be in their life. It's not too late 00:27:35.75\00:27:39.45 The only time it's going to be too late is when you or them 00:27:39.49\00:27:43.93 are in the grave and by then there's nothing you can do 00:27:43.96\00:27:47.16 about it. So please, please work on it, overcome it 00:27:47.20\00:27:52.60 work through it. You can do it Find a resource to help you 00:27:52.63\00:27:57.01 But do not let it be too late 00:27:57.04\00:28:00.48