Rip Tide: Steve David

Intro to Rip Tide Series

The first man to put his hands into the soil of my soul is Steve David, or as I call him “Pop”. My dad is a homicide detective for the Dallas Police Department and has been on the force for over 20 years. He has been a husband to my mom for 26 years this October and is the father of two, me (23 yrs old) and my sister (21 yrs old). Every father has the opportunity to greatly shape their children’s future in great and terrible ways; and you will see that my pop used his influence in his children’s lives for good.

Get To Know Steve
My dad is a man’s man. He is naturally charming and respectable. People feel warm and comfortable around him. He is jovial but you respect him. You get the feeling that he does not stand for wrong and if he wanted to, he could definitely take you down. How he came to Christ captures this perfectly. We had been attending a particular church for a while and some people thought my dad should be nominated to be a deacon in the church. My dad then met with the pastor and after some interesting conversation both realized that he was not actually a christian and, with the pastor as his guide, placed his faith in Jesus Christ. He is a man’s man, a natural leader and his near promotion to church leadership without being a christian shows it (and something about the church). 

He Was Dad
My sister and I both have very vivid memories where, in that moment, we despised our dad. We thought he was mean and just a jerk who was too uptight. As goofy as our dad was, he was always our father first and that resulted in discipline. His discipline was not always perfect and at times probably caused more tears than necessary but how it always ended was life changing. No matter how bad we had been or how mad he got, he always came in that same day to reaffirm us of his love. He apologized if he was wrong, explained his loving intentions and stuck to his punishment that we earned. He loved us and we could never question that. Now we gladly submit to our dad in joy because we see how great his love is for us.

He Was There
My dad always came through for me regardless of the situation. A conversation we had while driving some where illustrates this perfectly. I was around 12 years old at the time and we had been driving a little longer than I had anticipated and I began to worry that he was lost. I asked him if we were lost and he said, “no.” But after 30 seconds, I grew impatient and asked him again if he was sure we weren’t lost and his response was, “have I ever not gotten you to where you need to be?” I was silenced. What could I say? He had always taken care of me and never let me down. So I shut up and everything else went according to plan. He sacrificed promotions so that he could support and have time with us. He was there.

Impressions
So much of what I have learned and who I am comes from my dad (other than looking just like him) but there are three things that stand out. He has taught me how to be a dad even though he did not have much of an example in his dad. The coming generations of Davids will drink deeply from the fountain of Christ-like love that my dad poured into me. He has taught me to put an extremely high value on relationships and to sacrifice so that you do not miss out on those you love most. Lastly, his fathering gives me such a healthy lens to view and accept the Fatherhood of God. So many people have a hard time accepting God as their Father when they trust in Jesus because their earthly father has given them such a skewed picture of fatherhood. I thank God for my father and I know how undeserving I am of such a person.

This is my dad and I am who I am because of him.

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