June 17, 2010 Posted By: Mark Merrill

What do dads really want for Father’s Day?

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What most dads really want for Father’s Day is to be their child’s hero…to know that his kids look up to him…admire and respect him.  So, how can kids, and even adult children, show that to dad?  Well, here are a few ideas. Grab the camcorder, iPhone or anything with video capabilities and video yourself …

June 17, 2010 Posted By: Mark Merrill

Great Leader, Great Father

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Frank had a small place in Sharon Township, North Carolina.  It was a dairy farm, but it wasn’t much of a living.  His children often remember him with a sun-browned face, walking out onto the hot, dusty path back to the farmhouse. In the 1929 stock market crash, he lost his entire life savings — …

June 16, 2010 Posted By: Mark Merrill

Serving and Service

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Alfred Roberts was a small-town shopkeeper.  He managed the grocery store in a place called Grantham. For his daughter, Margaret, he was a fount of wisdom and knowledge, even though he had little formal education.  She remembers fondly a time when she wanted to go out and hang around with friends rather than do her …

June 15, 2010 Posted By: Mark Merrill

10 Ways to Know You are Being a Good Father

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Most men want to be good dads. But we struggle sometimes with how to practically make that happen. So, here are some things I just jotted down that may help us on our fatherhood journey. 10 Ways to know you are being a good father: 1. When your calendar is full of things to do …

June 15, 2010 Posted By: Mark Merrill

The Duty of Fatherhood

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Behind a successful person we often find the legacy of a loving father. We may not know their names.  Some are shopkeepers or farmers or shoe salesmen.  Nothing these men did in their jobs made them famous.  But what they did as fathers changed the course of history.  This week, as we celebrate and honor …

June 14, 2010 Posted By: Mark Merrill

A Father’s Legacy

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  Dads, have you thought about your legacy lately?   In case you haven’t, let’s start with the basics: Webster’s Dictionary says a legacy is “something handed down from one who has gone before.”  Fathers, we will eventually be that “one who has gone before”—the leaver of the legacy.  How we live will influence our children and …

June 8, 2010 Posted By: Mark Merrill

Manna Bags

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  At the Merrill home, we came up with a pretty creative  idea to help those in need. We call them Manna bags…