dennis rodman

here’s a ht to pete wilson for discussing the above video of dennis rodman’s hall of fame acceptance speech. pete wrote a wonderful post on his blog encouraging us all to not quickly judge people and instead remember that most people are broken individuals.

the part of rodman’s speech that floored me was the one regret rodman mentioned having. personally i can think of quite a few things that i would probably regret if i were in his shoes. here are a few examples:

  • the episodes of domestic violence with his wives
  • kicking eugene amos in the groin during a game against the minnesota timberwolves
  • a few of his hairstyles
  • etc., etc.

but the one regret that rodman mentioned in the speech was:

i have one regret; i wish i was a better father.

why would this be the one regret he mentions?

rodman says it is because he never really had a father in his life. since his father had let him down he wished that he would have given his kids a better situation. unfortunately, those who don’t have fathers in their lives often end up not being involved in their own kids’ lives. it is a vicious cycle. this is such a big issue for rodman that he uses the majority of his speech talking about a few of the men that actually tried to be father-figures to him. i think my favorite part of his speech is when he describes phil jackson telling him that if he wants to be a chicago bull the rodman needs to go into the kitchen and apologize to scotty pippen. father-figures encourage people to do the hard things.

my question, and the reason for this post, is i wonder how we can (i.e. CHRISTians and especially the threads of tapestry) be fathers to the fatherless in such a manner that they will be better fathers to their children? after all, psalm 68:5 says that our GOD is:

a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is GOD in HIS holy dwelling.

therefore when we act as father-figures we are following in the nature of our LORD.

thoughts?

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