My dear father, Dennis Desmond, was born at Cape Canaveral, Florida (during a family vacation).

Growing up, he excelled in school while participating in many extracurricular activities as well. During high school, my father was active in his local FFA club, and raised a wide variety of animals such as rabbits, sheep, and bulls.

After graduating from high school, he earned a degree in Electrical Engineering and entered the workforce. After a few years as a systems administrator, he became a born-again Christian and began studying the Bible with amazing dedication – trying to make up for lost time.

During this part of his life, he married my wonderful mother and began working as a high school math teacher at a Christian school. He greatly enjoyed this job, but the low salary forced him to leave when my birth increased the costs of his small family.

Eventually, the job market drew him to Oregon where he ultimately found a position at Intel. For the last fourteen or so years he has continued working in different capacities at that company.

Dedicated Christian

First and foremost, my father is a dedicated Christian.

For as long as I can remember, he has never failed to read the Bible steadily (reading through it completely each year), and it has a large effect on his life.

Although he is always pressed for time, my father is always ready to stop and help others. This is so much his habit that once, when a father/son organization we are members of sent an email saying that they needed a speaker for the next meeting, my mother told us children not to tell my father… because she knew he would try to help them even though he did not have the time.

My father is truly a Christian hero.

Loving Father

Without a doubt, my father is the best father anyone could possibly have.

Both by example and by teaching, he works hard to train all eight of us (ranging in age from my toddler sister to me – a high school senior) to be true Christians, patriotic citizens, and dutiful workers.

Recognizing the importance of reading the Bible, he not only encourages each of use to read God’s Word daily ourselves, but he also reads a chapter of Proverbs to us most mornings and gives us a Bible study nearly every evening.

My father has been and, by the grace of God, will continue to be my greatest mentor and guide. Thank the Lord for the
gift of a great father!

Note: This lesson is written by Nate Desmond, the author of Practical Manliness - a blog that "applies the historic ideals of manliness to modern men".