Courageous Fathering: A New Year Resolution Worth Making!

I don't know about you, but I have never been big on New Year resolutions. In fact, I never make them, or even if I did, they are usually frivolous, non-committal and gets forgotten before the end of the first week.

This year however, I think I found a resolution worth making. On 2 January, I attended the screening of "Courageous" together with 800 other people in an event organized by Focus on the Family. To tell you the truth, I have been dragging my feet and confirmed my attendance only at the last minute. Hey, its 9am in the morning and I would very much like to sleep in!  But after much pestering from my friend, skinnyfoodie,  I finally decided to bring the whole family to watch it.

I am sure glad I did.

This is a movie for all fathers, especially ones like me who think we are "good enough" dads.  As I was reminded again in the movie, it's not good enough to be "good enough".  We all must constantly strive to be the greatest Dad that our kids can ever have.  After all, you only get one chance at making a lifelong impact on your kids' life!

It's hard to imagine that a film of this quality was made on a small budget with mostly volunteers from a Church in the US. They had previously made Facing the Giants and Fireproof, all of which did extremely well for the independent film producer. I thought the story was very well written and the characters were very believable and down to earth.  From a Christian perspective, it really does touch on some very difficult issues like why God would allow suffering to happen.  However,  the strongest message was about the responsibility of fatherhood and I found myself making fresh commitments to my kids. 

It is a challenging, thought provoking film and I felt really comforted seeing other men also wiping their eyes after coming out of the cinema. You might feel a little apprehensive about watching such a film as it  might mean having to make changes in your own life.  But then again, what kind of resolutions can you make without making sacrifices?

"Courageous" will start screening on 5th January at selected Cathay cinemas. You can book your tickets from the Cathay Cinemas ticketing site.

And if you feel led to do something this year with your kids, there is a "Date with Dad" event happening this Feb 11th where Dads can spend an afternoon having High Tea with their daughters!  You can find out more about this event here.

More photos of the event can be found on the Focus on the Family facebook page.

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