Lotts of Love on Father's Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Father's Day is terribly hard for some people because they never grew up with a father, or because the one they got was not so good. Maybe he was angry\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lotts of Love on Father's Day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Father's Day is terribly hard for some people because they never grew up with a father, or because the one they got was not so good. Maybe he was angry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jeremy Lott's Diary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-17T18:01:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-06-17T18:15:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/files\/2012\/06\/Pastor_Bob_Debbie1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeremy Lott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeremy Lott\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/\",\"name\":\"Lotts of Love on Father's Day\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-17T18:01:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-17T18:15:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/#\/schema\/person\/6c759d696b2f864e0678fac4bf4e792d\"},\"description\":\"Father's Day is terribly hard for some people because they never grew up with a father, or because the one they got was not so good. Maybe he was angry\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lotts of Love on Father’s Day\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/\",\"name\":\"Jeremy Lott's Diary\",\"description\":\"An insider's look at religion news and commentary\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/#\/schema\/person\/6c759d696b2f864e0678fac4bf4e792d\",\"name\":\"Jeremy Lott\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ffd29bbac59597c87f9338596cbf8921?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ffd29bbac59597c87f9338596cbf8921?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeremy Lott\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/author\/jlott\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lotts of Love on Father's Day","description":"Father's Day is terribly hard for some people because they never grew up with a father, or because the one they got was not so good. Maybe he was angry","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lotts of Love on Father's Day","og_description":"Father's Day is terribly hard for some people because they never grew up with a father, or because the one they got was not so good. Maybe he was angry","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/","og_site_name":"Jeremy Lott's Diary","article_published_time":"2012-06-17T18:01:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-06-17T18:15:31+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/files\/2012\/06\/Pastor_Bob_Debbie1.jpg"}],"author":"Jeremy Lott","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeremy Lott","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/","name":"Lotts of Love on Father's Day","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-06-17T18:01:54+00:00","dateModified":"2012-06-17T18:15:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/#\/schema\/person\/6c759d696b2f864e0678fac4bf4e792d"},"description":"Father's Day is terribly hard for some people because they never grew up with a father, or because the one they got was not so good. Maybe he was angry","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lotts of Love on Father’s Day"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/","name":"Jeremy Lott's Diary","description":"An insider's look at religion news and commentary","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/#\/schema\/person\/6c759d696b2f864e0678fac4bf4e792d","name":"Jeremy Lott","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ffd29bbac59597c87f9338596cbf8921?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ffd29bbac59597c87f9338596cbf8921?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeremy Lott"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/author\/jlott\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1078"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":214,"date":"2012-06-17T11:01:54","date_gmt":"2012-06-17T18:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/?p=214"},"modified":"2012-06-17T11:15:31","modified_gmt":"2012-06-17T18:15:31","slug":"lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeremylott\/2012\/06\/lotts-of-love-on-fathers-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Lotts of Love on Father’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Empathy isn\u2019t my bag, so let me just say to readers without a good father that I wish you\u2019d had a Dad like mine.<\/p>\n

Bob Lott is not the strongest father in the world or the tallest or the richest or the smartest \u2014 though I\u2019ll let you in on a little secret: he\u2019s a lot smarter than he lets on. But I think I speak for all of the brothers Lott when I say that he is the best.<\/p>\n

Dad is a Baptist minister. People immediately think \u201cpreacher\u201d when I tell them that, but no. The conventions of a Baptist pulpit are too strictly formal and bullet-pointy for his style.<\/p>\n

What he is is a teacher who leads through deed as much as Word. I watched him as a youth pastor for over a dozen years, and lately as an associate pastor for longer. He worked to provide needed direction for some pretty screwed up young lives and he recently held his country church together through a difficult transition.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s baseball, always the second great devotion in the Lott household. Dad has coached church softball teams for as long as I can recollect. It was only this year, part way through the season, that he sidelined himself. He says he\u2019s done, but I\u2019m not so sure. His knees are bad these days, yet don\u2019t bet against him finding his way back onto the field.<\/p>\n

Dad coaches like he pastors, because he sees one as an extension of the other. He works hard. He repeats simple but necessary advice (\u201cBase hits, guys!\u201d; \u201cNever go down looking!\u201d). He searches for the best place to put a player, on the field and in the lineup, not only to win the game but to help him learn. He doesn\u2019t yell at players because he doesn\u2019t have too. The look on his face is enough of a reprimand.<\/p>\n

Dad has coached some very winning teams, but he rarely gloats. He rejected my plaintive cry, after one particularly glorious victory, to put \u201cWe beat Christ the King,\u201d the local Lynden megachurch, up on his church\u2019s signboard.<\/p>\n

Why not? Poor sportsmanship? Theological objection? He never spelled it out and I\u2019m not sure he could articulate a single reason. For Bob Lott, much more than for most, life and love and faith run together.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"