I remember my dad coming home from the store one night when I was about eight with a new cassette tape, popping it in the Hi-Fi and telling me and my brother that we had to hear what he had just bought. It was “Best Of… The Lovin’ Spoonful.” I was hooked right away. It was one of the many tapes we listened to while in the car. Its part of the soundtrack of my childhood.
I later became a die-hard Beatle fan but I think the foundation of that appreciation was built on that collection of Lovin’ Spoonful songs.

John Sebastion was the brains behind the band. Primary song writer and singer. I’ve gone back and listen to their music lately and have come to the conclusion that he is a much under appreciated song writer. I saw an interview with him saying that he didn’t want to try and be a second rate Bob Dylan so he went the other direction, stayed away from politics and social movements. He wanted to write “feel-good” music. And I think he did. I’ve found several videos and songs on Youtube, I’ll share a few over the next few days.
Here is his Woodstock performance:

He shakes his head as he walks off stage. I think its because he only sings half the chorus the first time through.

There is a list of things I need to do each day that I have been either poor or negligent in doing since we moved to Little Rock. I feel like I am moving backwards spiritually (ie my “Christian walk”) and it needs to stop.

Here are things I need to do every day:

• Spend at least 30 minutes reading the Bible and in prayer.
• Pray with my wife.
• Do a devotional with the kids.
• Spend at least 30 minutes playing with the kids.
• Pray for at least one family that supports us.
• Make at least 5 ministry related phone calls (calling supporters and potential supporters.)
• Give the laptop a rest.

If I do those things I can say I had a good day. But, as my dad says, “you got the easy part done, little man.”

My Dad Part 3:  

The biggest lessons my dad taught me were never things he said or lectures he gave, they were the things he did, and does to this day. Growing up, I watched him live out his faith in very real and tangible ways.

He would reach out to other kids in the neighborhood, especially those that did not have a father figure. I can remember playing at the playground and my dad befriending other kids and encouraging them to join in our games. A Game which was normally “Monster,” one of the coolest games ever invented. I’ll have to explain that later but suffice it to say that every kid that has ever played “Monster” has absolutely loved it. My other friends always said my dad was cool. I think it was because he would come out and play with us which a lot of other dads didn’t do. Plus, he was younger which made him easier to relate to. He is a big Star Wars fan and I think he liked going to the arcade more than my brother and I. (I’m getting off track here)

Another way I saw him live out his faith was reaching out to others in need. I remember Bret. Bret was a mentally retarded man that was about my dad’s age, maybe a little younger. He went to the Salvation Army church, which we were attending at the time. My dad would take Bret with us to do fun things, like go to the arcade. He would talk to Bret and listen to him. It was something you could tell Bret didn’t get very often. My dad showed him Christ’s love.

I also see my dad live out his faith through his service in the church. He used to run the coolest puppet ministry I’ve ever seen. He was doing Veggie Tales type stuff 20 years before Veggie Tales. The puppet shows were not patronizing to kids, they were smart and funny. And they spoke truth. My dad was “Barry Blue,” a big blue puppet with sunglasses and a hat. It took two arms to operate, he had a blue glove as an arm and hand. I tell you that so I can explain one of the best puppet bits an 8 year old has ever seen. You get a room full of kids in any country, any culture, and I guaran-dang-tee you they will be laughing and screaming. It went like this: Barry would come up, looking for his hand, “Kids, have you seen my hand? I seem to have lost it.” His had would pop up at different spots on the stage, under the stage, beside the stage. Each time Barry would turn around, the hand would disappear. He would eventually find it and they would wrestle. Barry would fly in the air, his hand would fly in the air and the kids would scream and laugh.

His service didn’t stop there. He has served in setup crews, men’s ministries, Sunday School classes, and in the Emmaus community, to name a few.

Like I said before, my dad has played the single biggest role in making me who I am today. I have seen him handle a divorce, and have watched him live out his faith. He has given my something to shoot for both as a dad and as a Christian.

Thanks dad. I love you.

Oh.. and happy birthday even though that was almost a month ago.

The story left off with my dad being a single parent with two boys. He raised us for 3 years by himself (with a lot of help from my grandma.) This is where his example shows me where I feel I am falling short as a parent. Through all the stuff he was struggling with back then, working overtime, going through a divorce, having to temporarily move back in with his parents, etc… He still made time for me and Jonathan. He got down on our level and interacted with us, spent time with us and just played with us. Sure we ate a lot of instant egg-fu-young (that stuff is actually pretty good), ate out at the Kroger cafe and got our clothes straight out of the dryer but… we still had fun. We took trips, we went to church, we had Big Time Wrestling matches in my grandma’s living room. Even though the divorce was scarring me in ways I still don’t quite understand, we knew our dad loved us and was trying to make things better.

When I was 8 years old, in 1980, my dad got remarried. The 19 year old daughter of Bob, one of the friends that helped lead him to Christ. Her name is Jane and, fortunately, she had no idea what she was getting herself into. I’m not going to lie and say that things were easy and hunky-dory, because they were not. I don’t care who you are, blended families are not easy but it worked. My brother and I saw what a Christ-centered marriage was supposed to look like. I still think they are crazy for trying it but I’m glad they did.

He was born in Franklin, Indiana in 1951 and raised in Columbus, Indiana, the only son of Jack and Dorothy Riley. He has two older sisters and a one younger sister. My grandpa owned and operated a grocery store so he worked long hours. He was also a heavy drinker so the majority of the child raising was left to my grandma.

Through high school and early adulthood he embraced the drug and hippie culture of the time, having fun with friends and driving fast cars. I was conceived out of wedlock when he was 20 and it was around that time that he began to question why he was here and about the meaning of life and about God. The “fun” he had been having began to feel hallow and empty. Over the next couple of years he began a spiritual journey.

Not coming from a Christian home, he was not sure where to turn. He looked into Eastern philosophies and Yoga but found they came up short. He also had some friends at work who where Christians and who told him about Christ and that He desired a personal relationship with him. That began to resonate with my dad and by the time I was 2 years old, my dad had accepted Jesus Christ as his savior and I thank God for Bob and Larry, his friends at work.

That day he came home and emptied out his drugs and paraphernalia, tossed it all in the trash. His life and the course of his family changed for ever that day. He was the first Christian in his family in 3 generations. But, everything wasn’t gumdrops and lollypops after that.

When I was 5, my mom decided that she did not want to be tied down and still wanted that wild life they had lived in the beginning, so she left. My dad was left to raise 2 boys as a single parent…

More to come…