By Mark Hopper

When our kids were young we enjoyed camping in the beautiful White Mountains in eastern Arizona. We had a Coleman tent, a Coleman stove and a Coleman lantern. We camped along a bubbling mountain stream in the Upper Log Creek campground. The bathroom facility was a rickety wooden outhouse. It was pretty primitive but we have a lot of good memories of the times we spent there.

We also enjoyed camping with other families. One had a motor home and another had a pop-up tent trailer. We had the leaky canvas Coleman tent. Our kids enjoyed playing with the other kids. The older kids watched over the younger kids. The mothers liked to enjoy time together and the dads liked to fish in the beautiful mountain stream.

One day one of my daughters asked if she could try fishing. I was busy trying to catch my own fish and we didn’t have any extra fishing rods. But one of the other dads found a stick and put a hook and fishing line on it. Then he put some bait on the hook and helped my daughter to carefully climb out onto a dead tree limb so she could put her fishing line in the stream. 

Suddenly she felt a tug on her fishing line. She caught a fish! But she was so excited that she fell off the dead tree branch and into the cold mountain creek. I was able to wade into the cold water and help her get back to dry land. But in all of the excitement she never let go of her fishing pole. She had caught a fish and she wasn’t letting go.

We still smile when we reflect on the day she caught a fish with a stick, line and hook. But as I look back on that event I realize that I had not been a good dad. I had been lazy. I didn’t want to stop what I was doing to help make her a fishing pole. Thankfully another dad did and she caught her own fish.

There is a verse in the Bible that says “Jesus did not come to be served but to serve others” (Mark 10:45). He put the needs and requests of others ahead of his own interests. This was a lesson I needed to learn too. I had put my own interests ahead of the needs of one of my kids. That day I was a lazy dad. Let me encourage you to put the needs and requests of your family ahead of your own. Be a servant leader. Be ready to respond to their requests. Watch for ways to help them and encourage them. You will be glad you did and they will too.

You can read more stories by Mark Hopper in his new book “Let Me Encourage You More – An Encouraging Story for Every Day of the Year”. Order your copy today at markh@efreedb.org. The price is $25 per book or two books for $40 plus postage ($5). Purchase one for yourself and give one to a friend. You will be glad you did!