These traits can seem somewhat intimidating and out of reach at times. However I believe that God provides skills and gifts based on need and circumstance. Therefore, I need to seek circumstances that will allow me to use these gifts. I echo a similar take away as Marty…..I need to be more intentional with my girls……Tim, I hear you about the cable subscription. This is something that I have been struggling to work through. On one hand I want to protect my girls and on the other I don’t want to shelter them. I want them to have healthy view and walk as they walk through he pop culture labyrinth.

Oh yeah….the data also made my heart skip a beat and a rumble in my gut.

I was a bit overwhelmed by the data-centricity of chapter 1. I must also admit elements of the start up made me feel a bit skeptical, data manipulation and straw-man approaches. Stats always raise the hairs on the back of my nect. I have always been more a social vein, interested in the narrative.

On the positive, I was reminded of one of my favourite lines from one of my favourite songs (above). I really appreciated how Meeker makes it textbook clear that fathers don't need to be superheroes. Our very presence makes us superheroes already, possibly supervillains! I believe in the presence of the Holy Spirit; It changes the atmosphere when we walk into the room. My takeaway is the same, if nuanced. Involved fathers – no matter how communicative, how successful, how able to do or be these 10 secrets – are strong fathers.

i thought it was fascinating how the author mentioned that daughters can take their mothers for granted but not their dads, and how they tend to try harder to excel when they're around us… i don't think i was aware just how big of an impact merely my presence makes!