My Father

Daddy

Words cannot express how I feel about my Father – all I can do is open a scrapbook of memories and shares snapshots to try to capture the love in my heart for a great man I have been privileged to call ‘Dad’.

I see a man with his twins snuggled up on either side of him as he reads a picture book aloud to them. 

I see a man who, while making sales calls on a phone, rolled a ball back and forth across the room to his small daughter without tiring for hours. 

I see a man who taught me how to swim, how to ride a bike, how to drive. 

I see a man who holds my hand as I tearfully confess my wrongs and seek guidance. 

I see a man who, just the other day, played ‘catch’ with his grown daughter using jumbo-sized balloons.  I see the two of them laughing, the girl until she cries, as the game of catch dissolves into a friendly war of balloon pummeling. 

I see a man who expounds on God’s word to me for hours, giving me more wisdom and more insight than any pastor. 

I see a man who has taught me how to pray and to be soldier of God and to war against principalities and rulers of darkness. 

I see a man who has equipped me with life lessons that will carry me to the end of my life.

I see a man that did not squelch me under his authority but did not puff me up with false ideas that would lead to feminism.  He has led me down the narrow path gently and consistently—discouraging me from the rabbit trails I might have wandered onto.  Showing me reason and wisdom, but always empowering me to believe that I could be anything I wanted to be within that wisdom.

I see an intelligent man full of talent and amazing dreams.

I see a man full of wisdom, who has taught me the balance of being different from our culture, and the realism of having to live in this world. 

I see a man who’s voice lights up when he says my name.    

I see a man, creeping into my bedroom when I am sick to visit with me, pray for me, stroke my hair. 

I see a man who makes me feel safe, no matter where I am or who I’m with. 

I see a man who forgives me over and over again, and loves me unconditionally. 

I see a man who laughs with me and makes me laugh. 

I see a man who is skilled in his labor and who works hard for his family.

I see a faithful father and a faithful husband to my mother. 

I see a man who, though not perfect, presses on in the race, his heart set on finishing well. 

I see a man who is unlike any other man that has ever lived or ever will live – he is unique and one of a kind – and he’s mine – the man I am blessed to call ‘Daddy’. 

Abba

I have been so blessed that in my life to have had a father that points me to my Heavenly Father.

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!  Matthew 7:11. 

As much as I love my earthly father, he is just a representative, only a reflection of someone far greater.  The God of the Universe, the Creator of all Things the Judge over All, is my Father.  This is a God that not only tolerates my existence, but a God who seeks me, woos me, lavishes His love upon me.   A God who sent his Son as a sacrifice and left His Spirit within me, so that I no longer have to seek intercession through a priest or ask a man to pray to God on my behalf—I can be instantly in the Father’s presence—in the presence of the one who sees and knows and loves me.

And this leads me to one of my favorite books  that I would like to share with all of you – A God To Call Father, by Michael Phillips.

This is the most important book I have ever read in my life, after the Bible.  Be warned – the author uses the allegory of climbing a mountain to lead the readers to the truths he is trying to reveal – and this book is indeed a climb out of our natural habitat of doubt and making do with less than the best.

Everything inside you will very likely be yelling  at you to stop and go back down the mountain.  You will pick up the book seeking intimacy, and very likely be scared—wondering:  “Do I want this much, intimacy?”  I know, because I felt this way.  But KEEP CLIMBING, don’t look back.  Don’t stop for anything.  Let go—keep reading—this book turned my faith right-side up and I felt my Father’s love penetrate to a part of my soul that had been walled in for far too long.

The Holy Spirit used this book to bring me to a place of knowing my Father in a way I had not known Him before.

God is the Hero of a woman’s dreams, the shining Prince that rescues us, and the Father that holds us in His arms night and day.

“I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth.”  Isaiah 43:6

I thank you, Lord for bringing me back over and over again.