{"id":2560,"date":"2012-04-30T02:46:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T02:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=2560"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:35:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:35:57","slug":"im-a-proud-dad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=2560","title":{"rendered":"I’m a Proud Dad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yesterday morning was cold and rainy – like most Saturdays lately.\u00a0 I have decided that perhaps God\u00a0hates soccer.\u00a0\u00a0Dats (age 10) had a 9:30 game and\u00a0a storm had just blown over, so the game went on as scheduled.\u00a0 About 25 minutes into the game, Dats was in position at the opponents’\u00a0net and managed to kick the ball past the goalie and score a point for his team.\u00a0 His first goal of the season!\u00a0 His first goal of the last couple of years, in fact.\u00a0 You should have seen the look on his face as he came running down the field after that goal.\u00a0 Priceless.It was a proud morning for me.\u00a0 But not because he scored a goal.\u00a0 Honestly, I was born lacking the “sports gene”.\u00a0 Anything sports related holds zero interest for me.\u00a0 I couldn’t possibly care any less about who the Indianapolis Colts recently signed as their new quarterback, for instance.\u00a0 You would not want me as a partner in a sports trivia game.\u00a0 If I had the time most other guys spend watching games on TV, I would much rather spend it reading or taking a nap.\u00a0 So it struck me when Dats made a goal that I was happy for him, but lacking that familiar paternal pride:\u00a0 “Did you see that?\u00a0 That was my boy!”\u00a0 Because, really,\u00a0how much pride is appropriate for Dats kicking a\u00a0 ball past some other kid?\u00a0 I know I am blaspheming a sacred part of American culture, but I just don’t get it.\u00a0 It’s a game.\u00a0 Big deal.But here’s what DID make me proud: We got in the van and Dats was still beaming.\u00a0 He said, “I felt like I was going to make a goal today even before the game started.””Oh yeah?””Yup.\u00a0 Before every game I pray that God will let me make a goal, and today I felt like He was saying that it was my day to make one.”My kid prays,\u00a0perseveres even when\u00a0God doesn’t seem to answer immediately, and\u00a0listens closely for\u00a0God’s response.\u00a0 THAT was when I felt the paternal pride.Later, Dats brought in a school project that had been hanging on a bulletin board for a few months.\u00a0 It was a bit of writing that had been laminated.\u00a0 Here is what he wrote:“New Year Resolutions”<\/em>“I have a few New Year resolutions.\u00a0 One of my bigger, better ones would be to read three books out of the Bible.\u00a0 One of my targets is Galations.\u00a0 I also want to read at the least fifteen minutes out of the Bible every week.<\/em>“My New Year resolution is to destroy bad habits and start new better ones.\u00a0 A long term resolution would be to get outstanding grades and get a nice job.<\/em>“An other long term goal would be to meet others needs.\u00a0 I also want to help others in Haiti.”<\/em>On the back, his teacher had written a note to him:”Dats,You are a bright young man.\u00a0 God has a great plan for your life.\u00a0 Continue through and read his word and he will guide you.”\u00a0\u00a0 Amen to that!“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen \nis temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” <\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 Corinthians 4:18<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning was cold and rainy – like most Saturdays lately.\u00a0 I have decided that perhaps God\u00a0hates soccer.\u00a0\u00a0Dats (age 10) had a 9:30 game and\u00a0a storm had just blown over, so the game went on as scheduled.\u00a0 About 25 minutes into the game, Dats was in position at the opponents’\u00a0net and managed to kick the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2560"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2561,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2560\/revisions\/2561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}