Giving Hope to the Hopeless

My husband, Rich, lost his dad unexpectedly when he was eight. When father and son functions happened through the years, men from church and his friends’ dads always included him. Perhaps that’s why my husband has such a heart for Little League baseball and is known throughout our community as a caring coach.

When our next door neighbor and her husband divorced, Rich stepped in and invited her son to be a part of our son’s team.

He understood what it felt like to be a fatherless child.

He drove him to practices and games, and provided snacks and equipment as needed.

One day, Rich got the shocking news that his assistant coach had died suddenly. Rich’s first thought was about Chris’s eight-year-old son. “I wonder how Jacob is,” he said. Then he called Jacob’s mom. Ironically, she told him the first person Jacob asked her to call about his dad’s death was “Coach Rich.”

Sometimes we go through what we go through, to help others go through what we went through.

My husband, Rich, a fatherless child, reached out to spread hope to boys like him.

Get in the game of encouraging fatherless boys or girls. Become a big brother or big sister at a local organization. Invite a fatherless child to play sports or attend an activity with your children. Play catch or shoot baskets. One man I know escorts an extra girl to the annual Daddy/Daughter Dance at school because her dad lives in another state. The possibilities are endless!

Excerpted with permission from Hopelifter: Creative Ways To Spread Hope When Life Hurts by Kathe Wunnenberg, copyright Kathe Wunnenberg.

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Your Turn

Men, how can you step in as a “Dad” for the fatherless kids you know? Wives, brainstorm with your husband about ways you can step in the gap for kids without dads. Come join the conversation on our blog! We would love to hear how you are serving fatherless kids in your community or ideas you have to be a “Dad” to those around you! ~ Devotionals Daily