From Dr James Dobson’s family talk

This is a rush transcript and may contain minor errors and/or discrepancies from the audio. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.Dr. Dobson: The topic I wanna talk about today and tonight, it is, memories of my father. My dad was a man of prayer. Some have heard me say that my dad spent so much time in prayer on his knees, he was known in the little town where he was a pastor as the man who had no leather on the toes of his shoes, because he spent so much time praying. I’ve got several dozen memories at two. 

My dad had to remind me of this, and then I vaguely recalled it: my little bed was in the bedroom with my parents, and it was so tight that my bed was right up next to them when I was two years of age. And my dad said that it was not unusual at that time to awaken in the middle of the night, and hear a little voice that said, “Daddy, Daddy?” And he would say, “What, Jimmy?” And I would say, “Hold my hand.” And I would put my hand out and he would search for it through the darkness until he found my little hand. And he said, the moment he found my hand, my arm became limp and I had obviously gone back to sleep. And I always looked for him that way and thought of him as just wanting to know that he was there because I found security in him. 

And I wanna tell you that the happiest days of my life, or some of them, anyway, were spent out in the woods with him. We’d get up in the morning, crisp and cold, and put on our hunting clothes, our hunting boots, and get out in the car. The sun hadn’t even come up, and we would drive out to the place where, I called it the Big Woods, and we’d sit there and wait for the sun to come up. And he was mine out there. He was different with me there than he was anyplace else, because he was relating to me, his son. And it made me want to be like that man. It made me want his values for my values and his thoughts for my thoughts and his God for my God. And I learned it at the feet of my father. And he was that kind of man for me.

For more on this story, audio and video go to: https://drjamesdobson.org/specials/happy-father%27s-day-2019?sc=FEM&mc=FEM0619FD&utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_campaign=20190616%20-%20Fathers%20Day%20-%20General%20with%20Survey%20(FEM0619FD)%20(4)&spMailingID=21652347&spUserID=MTk2NDM5NDEwNwS2&spJobID=1520974148&spReportId=MTUyMDk3NDE0OAS2