It’s amazing how much better a small seven point buck looks when it’s in the hands of your three year old son. 

As a 21st century dad I have to be intentional about spending time with my kids.  Even as a work from home father I find it difficult to carve out the quality time I imagine fathers of old having with their sons.  While valuable, the moments found with my kids between the buzz of my blackberry aren’t enough.

As a follower of Christ I seek to practice the “in the way” method of fatherhood taught in scripture.  You know, parenting that is done in the midst of daily life, where children catch their understanding of God and his wisdom simply by watching and following their dads.  

I believe that our heavenly Father clearly practiced this method of parenting with us by sending his Son to this world to walk among us and to be for us an example.

Often however I find it hard to get significant “in the way” time.  It’s not like my young children can be on sales calls with me, attend my meetings, or help me respond to email.  I often imagine it was easier to be a father when “in the way” meant they helped you in the barn, or in the field.  I imagine though, truth be told, that fathers of old took their three year old sons in the field with them because they had to work in the field 14 hours a day and they too were struggling with the “necessities” of life that tend to rob our children of us.

All that to say – as I prepared for a recent trip to see my family in OH, I decided to be intentional about some time with my oldest son Kade.  I called ahead and asked my dad to set up a deer feeder behind his barn so that Kade and I could spend some time in the stand together.  Between the feeder, the corn, the new arrows and broad-heads it ended up being an expensive 15 minutes (we shot the buck 15 minutes after we sat down).  But as my “little buck” pulled up and pulled the trigger on his first little buck I knew we had created an “in the way” moment that would last a lifetime. 

The time spent waiting, shooting, tracking, gutting, and dragging were moments he and I will remember for the rest of our lives.  They were also moments that didn’t occur by accident.

So for this father – watching this adorably disgusting video is a great reminder to me that being a good father won’t happen by accident.

Here’s to our kids and to making them a priority.

Josh