This past Wednesday night at work, there was a regular with his two kiddos at one of my tables. The dad ordered a Coke…...and the two younger kids ordered a Coke.
When I brought out their drinks, the kids pointed out that they wanted a big cup like the one their dad had, not some kid’s cup with a lid!
With permission from dad, I made it happen.
After getting their drinks, the dad ordered a steak and the kids ordered a steak, too…….at least......they tried their best. Hamburgers and fries was the compromise since the dad and I both knew what 2 five-year old’s could put down, and a 12oz ribeye steak was not one of them.
Isaiah 64:8
Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
As a kid, I always wanted to be like my dad, and still do! I wanted big muscles, a deep voice, to be fast, to be funny, to be smart, to have money to buy Legos and Nerf guns all the time, and to one day have a family of my own so I could be a dad one day, too!
Except for me, my image of what a 'dad' was supposed to be was always a little blurry.
Growing up, I had many dads. I had my birth father, my Papa Phil (pastor from back home), my grandfather Nick, my Papa Carl, my Grandpa Lindy, my Pappy (great-grandfather), and later on, my step-dad Shalin, Papa D (my youth pastor), "Dad" (just about any older guy I went to school with that I looked up to), uncles, older cousins, my friends' dads, and so many more to care for me and uplift me from a boy to a young man.
I've had so many mentors, teachers, and leaders that guided me thus far, but over all of those 'dads', I always and forever have, and will have, my one true Father: God.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
As fathers, when your kids come into the world we live in, they're entering just as Jesus did, from the womb of a woman.
As such, children are to walk to honor their father with that they've been brought up to know and understand. Not just what they've learned from their earthly dad(s), but from their Heavenly Father.
I think most of us know this already, but let me remind you once again that God made a HUGE sacrifice.
He had His only son, the only child He ever had, nailed to a cross and crucified for all of us, so that we could see His love in a number of unexplainable ways.
And when a man becomes a father, he sacrifices everything for that one child. He sacrifices his time, his wealth, his protection, his everything! A father is there for their children, both our earthly fathers and our Heavenly Father.
But for some of us, our fathers may have left us before or after we were born.
Some walked out, some passed away from sickness, some took their own lives, some died courageously serving our country, some left us a while back and some more recently.
And it's incredibly difficult to live a life after going through such an awful start to your amazing beginning on the land God has created for us.
But God calls all of us to abide in Him, not in our earthly fathers. Yes, our dads are pretty ridiculously awesome and their jobs are super difficult, but what's even more awesome is a Father who will be there forever.
The Father who was there before you were, and who will be there to watch over your friends and family when you won't be: when you're gone and then found right next to your true Father, and all your past fathers, grandfathers, etc, all playing golf and drinking iced teas on the fields of Heaven.
So for now, let us not only look up to our father, or fathers, for everything we need but to the Father we all share together, God, Abba, the One who protects and provides always, for me, you, your friends and family, your father and mother, and those we don't know quite yet.
God is our Father, forever and always. So here's to a Happy Father's Day to our Dad and to our Father!
Questions to Ask Yourself:
1. What characteristic of a dad do you most appreciate?
2. How can you be more like your Heavenly Father, today and onwards?
3. How can you go out of your way to make your dad, a father, or your Father feel special today?
Pray...that your father would be blessed on this wonderful day, and that God would continually protect and provide for you, both through your father, your fathers, dads, and most importantly, through Him.
With that said,
Live, love, and be loved.
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