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n celebration of Father’s Day, I would like to tell you a short story about my father’s day 2008. It was the first time I attended my current Church, The Fellowship at Cinco Ranch. My wife and I dropped off our 10 month old baby girl in the nursery for the first time. I was nervous and throughout the entire service, I was worried they would call one of our cell phones to tell us that she needed to be picked up from childcare! To be honest, I don’t remember the content of the service (apologies to our family pastor who typically preaches on Mother’s and Father’s Day – Robert Jackman), I wish now I had.
When we went to pick up our daughter, I was overjoyed at how happy she was when we picked her up. And
then my “heart strings” were tugged! The attendants in the nursery handed me a father’s day gift. I looked at it and read it, and was so grateful for this gift that I made a decision that this was going to be the church for my family. The nursery attendants took the time to place my daughter’s hand in paint and place her tiny hand print on a poem and frame the paper they used (see the photo to the side). WOW! My wife and I now work in the nursery with the infants and sometimes we can get overwhelmed with children, but the fact that these selfless people took time out of their stressed-out baby duty to do this for all the fathers was fantastic!
At the time, I did not realize that us visiting that father’s day and the poem were a “God Thing.” As I look back at the last 4 years, I can obviously see that it definitely was. It was less than a year later that I entered recovery for my sexual addiction and it was this church (more importantly the body of Christ – the members) that supported me in my recovery. To be honest, up until I entered recovery, I was not involved in the church. I was one of those husbands, fathers, men that would come sit on Sunday mornings and let it go in one ear and out the other. My biggest question after church was “what’s for lunch?” I just was not invested in the church.
And then my life fell apart, and who was there to help me put things back together? The body of Christ! I began getting involved in church activities such as a couple of men’s Bible studies including one on Joseph, a Man of Integrity and Forgiveness (Swindoll). It was during the study of Joseph where I confessed to having a sexual addiction. I believe most of the men in the room were shocked and silent. During the study on lesson 2, resisting temptation, I admitted my past sexual sin. The funny thing is, after the study a couple of guys came up to me and also told me they struggled with about the same issues as I did.
From there, I took a Men’s Fraternity course, the Quest for Authentic Manhood that addressed a lot of my wounds growing up as well as showing me how the Bible defines manhood. I continued on to various Christian studies and then in June 2010 I started the Castimonia Men’s Sexual Purity Support & Recovery Group, meeting for the first time on Saturday, June 12, 2010.
Had it not been for the experience at the nursery on father’s day of 2008, I don’t think I would be where I am today. I pray all fathers in recovery have had similar experiences and that they can reflect on how God used the love of their children to draw them closer to Him. And for fathers that are still living in sexual sin and need a reason to get out, I would like for you to look into the eyes of your children and understand that if you remain in that secret sexual sin, then there is a high probability your children too will inherit that sin or marry someone who has their own sexual sin. Had I stayed in my addiction and kept it secret, I am certain that my daughters would have grown up to marry someone who carried the same character defects and same sexual secrets as I did. Furthermore, if I had sons, it would be much worse for them as they would end up with some sort of intimacy disorder, such as sex addiction, if I had kept up my isolation and secrets. So please seek help and step into the light, the path of recovery is not easy, but it is so much better than a life of sexual impurity. It is a much better life for you, your wife, and especially your children!
Happy Father’s Day!
Take what you like and leave the rest.
