EDITOR’S NOTE: The following story is published with permission from Benjamin Watson, an NFL tight end who played for the New England Patriots (winning a Super Bowl ring in 2004), and currently plays for the New Orleans Saints. The story first appeared as a blog post on his site, and I am delighted and grateful that he has granted us permission to republish it on The Dad Story Project website. Watson’s story, Water, draws a powerful parallel between the relationship of children with their earthly fathers, and all of us with our heavenly father. Here are some useful links: Watson’s Wikipedia page; his personal website; and his convocation address at Liberty University.


BW-the-family-man20130905_0770_1By Benjamin Watson


“Wa-da Daddy, Wa-Da!” Hearing my “name” I look over to see my 2 yr old son laying on his back on our bed, his head hanging off the side upside down, his eyes staring out of the bedroom window and his finger pointed skyward. I walked over to the window and gave the obligatory, “yea buddy, water” response but I honestly had no idea what he was talking about. Sensing the lack of understanding in my voice, he repeated himself, more emphatically this time. “Wa-Da Daddy, WA-DA!” I peered through the window again, intently trying to solve this mystery. Looking upward in the direction of his pointed finger, it suddenly dawned on me what he was trying to tell me. It was a beautiful 70-degree day. Other than a few high wispy cirrus clouds there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. And the sky was crystal blue as far as the eye could see, like when the horizon meets an ocean of…..WATER! “Oh, Water, buddy! Yeah”, I Confirmed excitedly. He looked at me as if to say, “Duh Daddy.” I went on to explain to him that while the sky may be blue and look like water it is much different. This is a fact he definitely knows because when we are outside playing he and his brother go absolutely crazy at the sight of each passing airplane. His problem, at that moment, though, was that he was upside down. And because he was upside down his perception of the world was as well. It seems silly to an adult with decades of life experience, but his conviction that the sky was the sea was just as honest, heartfelt and in his mind, truthful, as mine that it was not. Our respective feelings about the location of the sky were irrelevant. As sincere as they may have been, they had no bearing on the truth that the sky is above the earth, encompassing the globe.

At times many of us, whether we know it or not, find ourselves on our backs staring at the sky screaming “Water!” In our family, political, occupational and even spiritual lives we make decisions and take stances based on bad theology, personal benefit, convenience or political correctness. We think that the right thing to do is whatever the majority thinks is right at the time. Like a ship without a sail we are tossed to and fro by the prevailing trends and latest stances of our cultural leaders, anchorless in a storm of popular opinion. In a moment of misguided sincerity, absolute truth is what my baby boy needed. Contrary to popular belief, Absolute Truth is what we all need. Proverbs 14:12 says,

“There is a way, which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”

No doubt the man in this passage is sincere in his beliefs. He may even think he is doing what’s best for himself, his family, and his country. Unfortunately, sincerity, by itself, is never an accurate indicator of right and wrong. Many decisions we make collectively and individually that we think are good, are ultimately leading us down pathways of destruction. In fact many of us deceive ourselves by thinking we are wise, or as we sometimes express it, “evolved or enlightened”, in this present age.

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.”
1 Corinthians 3:19,20

Our human pride leads us to believe we know better and that we can actually improve, amend, or edit what God has laid out on the eternal pages of scripture. How foolish! Should the created teach the creator? It is nothing but our sin nature that leads us to audaciously believe we know better than Him. How can we, who on average enjoy 75 years on this terrestrial ball, foolishly turn our backs on the word of the everlasting? May it never be. Finally the prophet Isaiah issues a warning we can all take heed to. He says:

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20

Please understand, that God does not look upon this lightly. It’s not okay that everybody else is doing it. It’s not okay, that our sin “isn’t hurting anyone else”. As much as we would like it to be, Truth is not subject to personal convenience. Before God, relativism is not something to play with. Don’t be a cultural casualty shunning the existence of Absolute Truth. Collectively we are upside down in our thinking and only Christ can free us from the bondage of a depraved mind. We all confuse right and wrong at times. It’s in our gene pool, passed down all the way from the first people!

But like God, His word is timeless, unchanging, and forever practical. It is living active and sharper than any double-edged sword. It is profitable for doctrine, reproof and correction in righteousness. It reveals the wretched heart of man, unclothing our iniquity, and our needs, giving us hope on our darkest day, wisdom in our most foolish hour, truth in a world full of lies. God’s word is the ONLY word by which life truly makes sense. In fact his word is the only way we know what life truly IS. It is the standard by which all other standards must be compared. Our worldview should always be grounded in scripture. Who are we to think we know more than he?

Even though those white cirrus clouds may look like foam on breaking waves, the heavens will never be the raging sea. When I took my son off the bed and placed him upright on his little feet, his view of the world was corrected and he realized the folly of his ways. He had been seeing and thinking upside down. I, as his father, knowing infinitely more then he, would not let him wallow in his wayward thinking. How much more, will our Heavenly Father, the omniscient, take us off the bed, stand us up and correct our sight, if we truly WANT to see. The bed can be quite comfortable and warm and rest assured you will be in the company of many.

Sadly some of us don’t even know we are ON the bed and some that do, for various reasons don’t want to get off. Instead we’d rather keep looking at the sky, upside down, with our fingers pointed, yelling, “WATER!”