I appreciated this video on the White House blog yesterday, and I applaud President Obama for his efforts to encourage men to be good fathers. Regardless of where you stand politically, this is a fundamentally important aspect of Christianity - that men are committed to being good fathers. 

Our President said, "We need fathers to understand that their work does not end with conception..." He talked about the importance of fathers being involved in their children's lives and growth. I live and serve in a community with a tremendously high rate of fatherless children. On Wednesdays, I volunteer for Urban Promise, where children from the West Brighton housing projects (where my church is located) come for help with homework, as well as games and activities to help them grow into well-rounded, well-adjusted adults. My area of focus is music - I teach them songs that I'm writing especially for this program, which contain biblical lyrics tied to important life lessons (gratitude, identity, peer pressure, honesty, etc.) But no matter what we do for these precious ones, we cannot make up for the lack of having a good father. There are some things children can only learn from their fathers, and if they don't have a father around, they miss out on some really key life lessons.

Of course, many have found healing and grace through getting to know God the Father. But I find over and over that this comes at a high price. God the Father is sufficient, of course, but his pattern is to work through the flesh-and-blood father/child relationship. Without that, people are at a great disadvantage in life.

I have a great dad, who has always been deeply involved in my life. We are now good friends, talking on the phone at least once a week, able to joke and talk very openly. We are prayer partners, we encourage one another from God's word, and we look forward to our visits together (with my mom). We have shared some really beautiful times together, and I cannot express how grateful I am for the gift of a father who is a man of God.

This could be why I am so passionate about serving the fatherless. And why I get so angry at men who are no more than baby daddies, bailing on their girlfriends as soon as they discover they are pregnant. I know women who have been beaten by their boyfriends because they have refused to get abortions, and I know women who have, tragically, gotten abortions even though they didn't want to, because they feared their boyfriends (or feared losing their boyfriends).

One other note here. President Obama said he wanted men to know that fatherhood doesn't end with conception. This is huge, because it affirms that fatherhood BEGINS at conception. I support our President, but I hate his stand on abortion. I pray with all my heart that he will see into his own heart, and acknowledge that life - and fatherhood - begins at conception, when that baby begins to be knit together by his or her Creator, God, and that no man has the right to snuff that out.

Clearly, the President knows this in his heart, and I pray that his politics will reflect what he knows to be true about life.