Faith | Fathers and sons, you have a fixed amount of time. Make the most of today

I always knew my dad loved me. Hard as I try, however, I don’t remember him actually saying those words until I was in my 30s.

But now that most of my time on Earth is under my belt, I understand him better. For a man to say, “I love you” to his children — especially his sons — calls forth a unique mixture of courage and fear.

It was not only the gangplank of life my dad walked. Now it’s my walk, too. And it is the path forward for every man who has ever genuinely lived life.

“The Adam Project” is an engaging movie with a bit of sci-fi twist that pulled me into the plot with a warmhearted surprise.

Adam Reed, played by Ryan Reynolds, is a time-traveling fighter pilot. As the movie unfolds, he meets his 12-year-old self.

Later, he meets his physicist dad, Louis, to stop Louis’s invention of a time accelerator called, “The Adam Project.”

I don’t want to unpack the entire plot for you, but my take is that the real Adam Project in this movie is Adam Reed — the boy, and the man. The film makes the point that most of us waste a lot of time trying to live in the past or the future instead of the present moment.

In other words, our relationships with one another can only flourish in what the movie refers to as “fixed time.” There is really no going back — nor are there guarantees of the future.

One scene, I admit, got to me. Louis is seeking to be open and transparent about his love for his son, perhaps for the first time.

In the scene, he has an opportunity no one else has ever had — speaking to his 12-year-old son and his grown-up man-son simultaneously.

Looking at both of them he says, “I saw you being born. I watched you take your first breath. And after that happens, nothing is ever the same again. You’re my son, Adam, and I love you. You’re my boy, and I love you.”

Adam, suddenly emotional, says, “Okay. You don’t have to do all.”

Undeterred, Louis steps closer to Adam.

“I loved you from the first minute that I saw you,” he tells him. “And that will never change.”

Adam chokes up. “I ... I get that.”

Louis presses in, gently holding Adam by the face, “Adam, you’re my boy.”

Adam stammers, “Dad? We really don’t have to do all ... .”

Louis doesn’t stop, “You’re amazing. I love you.”

“I get it, Dad,” Adam says.

Louis, in unrelenting love, says, “I don’t think you do. I am proud of you. I love you, son. Know that inside your heart. Know ... . Come here. Come here.”

Adam is sobbing now.

Louis embraces both boys. “You’re my boys, and you’ll always be my boys throughout all time.

“I love you, Dad,” Adam says.

“I love you, buddy,” Louis whispers, “Don’t carry this around anymore.

Then Adam says, “I need you, Dad.” (You can see the clip on YouTube.)

There’s never been a perfect dad, and there will never be a perfect son. That’s not an excuse, but it may be a reason why we find it so difficult to express our feelings sometimes.

Even so, we need our dads, and we need our sons more than ever. And the only way I have found to fill the cracks and voids in my own life as a son and a dad is by looking to the only perfect Father, receiving his perfect son, Jesus, who loves us so much. And we need him. I can’t even tell you how much.

You and I have a fixed time. The past is irretrievable and the future is out of reach. Please make the most of today—of this moment in time.

Face the fears and receive the courage by joining Paul’s encouragement “that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting” (1 Timothy 2:8 NKJV).

How do we pray without anger and doubt?

First, we lift one hand to the Lord, saying, “I can’t fix what’s wrong in me or the world.”

And then we raise the other hand to him, saying, “But I have no doubt that you can fix it!”

This really is God’s Adam Project of love.