Let's Hear it for the Other Father

So much needs to be said about good and decent men who stand in the gap to become loving, caring, responsible step-fathers.

I remember well the old Winston’s song, Color Him Father. (Lyrics below) It is the story of a boy whose step dad became so dear to him. You will be touched by this song.

Joseph is a mostly unheralded man, though he sacrificed greatly. The result of his godliness and commitment to family is striking. Sure, the conditions surrounding his story are a bit different than the average step-dad. Never-the-less, let's give Joseph, the step-dad of the Lord some high kudos, as well as all men who wear the mantle of step-father with honor and integrity.

1. He married a woman pregnant by another

2. He raised a boy who was not his own

3. Though he married, he abstained from physical relations with his wife for a long period of time.

4. He risked his own reputation

5. He risked his own life

6. He went way above and beyond

7. He trained Jesus in a worthy skill

8. He was obedient to the voice of the Lord

9. He passed before he could personally witness tangible results (the ministry of Jesus)

10. He stepped in in the absence of the biological Father and became a wonderful surrogate.

There's a man at my house,
He's so big an' strong.
He goes to work each day,
An' he stays all day long.
He comes home each night,
Lookin' tired an' beat.
He sits down at the dinner table,
An' has a bite to eat.
Never a frown, always a smile.
When he says to me, "How's my chil'?"
I say that, "I've been studying hard,
All day in school,
Tryin' very hard to understand,
The golden rule."

Think I'll color this man father.
I think I'll color him love.
Said, I'm gonna color him father.
I think I'll color the man love.
Yes I will.


He says, "Education is the thing,
If you want to compete.
Because without it son,
Life ain't very sweet."
I love this man,
An' I don't know why.
Except I'll need his strength,
Till the day that I die.
My mother loves him an' I can tell.
By the way she looks at him,
When he holds my little sister, Nell.
I heard her say just the other day,
That if it hadn't 'av been for him,
She couldn't have found her way.

I Think I'll color him father.
I'm gonna color him love.
I've got to color him father.
I think I'll color this man love.


Our real old man,
He got kille' in the war.
An' she knows she an' seven kids,
Couldn't of got very far.
She said she thought that,
She could never love again.
An' then there he stood,
With that big, wide grin.
He married my mother,
An' he took us in.
An' now we belong to the man,
With that big wide grin.

I got to color this man father.
I'm gonna color him love.
I've to color him father.
I believe I'll color this man love.

He's just been so good to me.
I feel I've got to have to color him love.
I'm gonna color him father.
I've got to color this man love.