The Thursday Update

JUNE 13, 2024

Lakeshore Friends—

Father’s Day is this weekend and it makes me think about the important role that men play in our society and in the world. 

I am thankful that God gave me just over 21 years with my dad.  I learned a lot from him and will never forget the two things he told me often:

1. “All I ask is that you love and respect me.”

2. “You’re a DiPaola.”

The latter was not a reminder of my lineage but a charge to live in such a way that I don’t do anything to bring shame to our family.  I learned so much about the right way to do things from my dad.

I am also sad that I didn’t have more time with him and that he died suddenly and surprisingly.  Nearly two-thirds of my life has been lived without my dad.  He wasn’t alive to see me graduate from college, get married to Sue (though he did know her and loved her), give birth to our kids and grandchild, start Lakeshore, and so much more.

All of this is a reminder that we can never take our time or memories of our fathers for granted.  Fathers set the leadership tempo of our homes, provide so much that the family desperately needs, and are God’s ordained head of the family.  Despite this, culture has put fatherhood (and manhood in general) in its crosshairs and attacked this institution with constant berating and insults all designed to neuter it out of existence.  It may be causing some men to flinch, but thankfully not most of us.

This Father’s Day, I hope you’ll celebrate your father at Lakeshore.  Whether you knew him well or not very well at all, whether he was a great model for you or something less than that, God knows that honoring our fathers is best for us and for society (Exodus 20:12, Ephesians 6:2-3). 

Where would we be without them?

Warmly,
Vince