What if the way your kids see you is shaping the way they see God? In this honest and heartfelt conversation, Pat Barrett opens up about the pressure, beauty, and spiritual weight of being a dad—especially as the one who wrote Good Good Father.
Whether you’re a parent, future parent, or just someone reflecting on your own view of God, this one will hit deep.
Becoming a dad doesn’t always come with a grand, defining moment. Sometimes it just feels like life changes without asking if you’re ready. That’s how Pat Barrett describes the early days of fatherhood.
“I didn’t necessarily just feel like ‘Dad.’ I just felt like the same me… but now I have a kid.”
As Pat shared, one of the most sobering parts of being a dad is realizing that…
“Their first association with that word ‘Father’ isn’t going to be with God—it’s going to be with me.”
Whether we mean to or not, our kids often build their first picture of God based on how we show up—or don’t.
What if we parented with the goal of shrinking the gap between our imperfect love and God’s perfect love? What if our presence, our consistency, our grace, gave our kids a glimpse of a God who never leaves?
But even as we pour ourselves into parenting, the truth is—we need the Father too. Pat said it best: “I wanted this song for my kids so badly… but I realized I needed it for me too.” We never outgrow our need for grace.
Being a parent doesn’t mean having all the answers. It means walking with your kids, pointing to the One who does, and trusting that God fills the gaps we can’t.
Finding JOY every day
Whether celebrating and singing along on the good days or getting a pick-me-up and encouragement on the hard days, let JOY FM be your soundtrack to bring JOY to your day. You can take JOY with you wherever you go by streaming right now by clicking here to listen. Or you can easily bring JOY with you by downloading the JOY FM App.
What can you expect from listening to JOY FM?
You’re going to hear a lot of great music. Music with meaning…but you’re still going to want to sing along with the songs.
You’re going to hear on-air personalities that are real people. Laughing. Having fun. And being honest about life.
And you’re going to notice that JOY FM leaves you feeling a little better about life in general. A few minutes of listening should leave you feeling uplifted…encouraged…refreshed…ok, we’ll say it…more JOYful!
