Stephen De La Vega

My son participated in a community-wide summer youth orchestra and concert. During his practices I went to the gym after dropping him off. One week when I entered the locker room to stow my gear, I noticed a man looking a bit lost. There were other men nearby, but for some reason, he approached me and told me his lock didn’t fit on the lockers. He’d been trying a locker with a bent padlock loop so I tested his lock on another locker…right next to my usual one. It worked and he was pleased and thankful. On my next visit to the gym, I noticed his lock on my favorite locker. “Really?,” I thought. “Of all the lockers in this room, he took mine?” I saw him after my workout and we chatted a bit. His name is Will. I found out he usually exercises in a gym 15 miles south of mine, but his daughter was also in the same summer orchestra as my son. (Still, I wondered why he chose my locker.) The third time I saw him at the gym (using my locker), I handed him an announcement car...

  Gone are the days when I was regularly seen with an infant in my arms. I remember before my firstborn turned 1, my church invited all the dads to the stage on Father’s Day. We were asked to share what we like most about being a dad.   I wasn’t very sappy back then, so when I got the mic, I declared, “What I like most…is not having to give birth!” Before my son was born, many asked, “Are you ready to be a father?” Ready to be a father?   Everybody say it with me:   “No!” We’re probably never ready. We can read parenting books, articles and new discoveries on child development; and we can memorize pertinent Bible verses. But I say ‘never’ because fatherhood is much more than we might expect.   Even with profound fatherly role models, I think we naturally overlook some things, even key things, as we gear up for fatherhood. You see, at some point we realize: A father may be Superman to his young kids, but Superman exists only as long as his c...