Tag: Heavenly Father

You Have What It Takes

Today’s reading is John 14.

Chapter 14 in the book of John is probably most well known for verse 6 which is one of the most important verses in the Bible because it tells us there is only one way for forgiveness of our sins and salvation in Heaven which is through Jesus. It is foundational to our belief as a Christian.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

We are going to focus though on another part of chapter 14. In verse 8 Philip asks Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus’ response includes the following in John 14:9…

“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

Here is a question for those reading this who have children. Would your children be able to say they’ve seen their Father in Heaven based on the love they see you show and model as a father or mother?

In April I will head to Africa with 9 other dads in partnership with an organization called DadCamp (http://dadcamp.org). DadCamp is passionate about helping fathers become the dads the Bible teaches us we’re called to be because everything changes when a strong, loving father is involved in their child’s life. While there are no perfect dads and myself and the others going will admit we all have a lot of work to do, we are trying to do our best to be the dad God wants us to be and in this trip we will host a few camps in Malawi to hopefully allow God to work through us to inspire other dads to do the same.

One of my favorite books is The Resolution for Men by Stephen and Alex Kendrick with Randy Alcorn. I’ve said before it’s like an instruction manual for fathers and joked that it should be required reading for all dads. There is also a version for women. The book is filled with statements or resolutions to live in certain ways and hold ourselves to the standards God calls us to.
Jesus’ statement of, “Whoever has seen me has seen me has seen the Father,” is so profound because it’s true and our children should also be able to know God and see His love through our actions. We are called to be the best window our kids have into their Heavenly Father’s love. So many people who struggle to believe in God or believe that God loves them unconditionally and wants the best for them is because they have not experienced a loving earthly father (or mother).

The Resolution for Men talks about a few ways we can model our Heavenly Father and give our kids a window into His love and who He is.

One way is through attention. This is so hard nowadays with a workday that doesn’t seem to stop due to calls and texts and the distractions they bring with the constant buzzing of our phones or even the non-work related algorithms of social media which suck us into Facebook, Instagram, and X instead of focusing on our kids and being interested in them. I’ve said before some of my greatest memories were going to every high school basketball game of my hometown with my Dad (especially the day after Christmas spending all day at the holiday tournament which I may have looked forward to more than Christmas), as well as University of Illinois football and basketball games. I try to do my best to do the same with our kids, but know I have a lot of work to do…especially when it comes to putting my phone down!

Another the book mentions is through affection. This is not easy for many of us and especially men. But we need to hug and love on our kids and tell directly them we love them. Yes, kids need discipline but also our love. I know I can do better at showing that through playing and horsing around/wrestling with them. Unfortunately it’s go, go, go….or let’s just chill on the couch and watch a movie (which usually results in me falling asleep!).

The book also discusses affirmation. God the Father modeled this explicitly with Jesus after His baptism in Mark 1:11, “You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased.”  Regardless of if our child is young or an adult, have we told them we are proud of them lately? I would like to think I do a decent job on this…especially when they have a good game or do well on a test. I can improve on just telling them I’m proud of them randomly just because of who they are and that they are my son or daughter which helps them know my love and adoration for them is not conditional on their accomplishments. They need to know this because they are going to fail and mess up a lot (like me), and I want them to know that doesn’t change how I feel about them just like it doesn’t change how their Heavenly Father feels about and loves them.

Lastly, The Resolution for Men asks if we are known for loving others? Do our kids see us loving and showing compassion to everyone regardless of their age, race, sex, or social class? Do our kids see us loving our neighbor as ourselves? Jesus modeled the Father’s love by showing mercy and loving the unlovable like the Samaritan women at the well, the adulterous women, touching and healing lepers, and even washing Judas’ feet, just to name a few.

In the end, He showed his unconditional love, mercy, and grace by suffering and dying on the cross for each and every one of us.

As we wrap up today, let us reflect on if we are a shadow of our Heavenly Father the way Jesus modeled.

Ask yourself like I am, what are the one or two things I can work to improve on starting today?

We can do this regardless of our kids’ age(s).

As we say at DadCamp, “You have what it takes!”

 

Remembering Our Fathers

My journal today was originally written as a response to the hatred, in the violence, recently experienced in the Orlando Club Massacre. When I realized my post fell on Father’s Day; since I had already goofed up my Mother’s Day post, blogging about driving expensive sports cars in Las Vegas, I needed to focus on Father’s Day! Not only am I a father, but I know a bunch of ’em. Some are better than others, but we all have the privilege of profoundly impacting the lives of their children. What an AMAZING thing this is!

On a very personal note, I have had three Fathers. All of whom are deceased. Because of them, my life is rich with great memories. I deeply miss them all! With each one, I shared a special relationship. With each there was a bond of trust and loyalty. With my biological father, the bond was forged before I knew it; always there and never broken, despite separation, divorce, alcoholism and mental illness. I remember once, when I was eleven, calling him from a pay phone in Canada, at a park ranger station, after having almost drowned in a waterfall. I wanted to come home from camp so badly, yet he encouraged me to tough it out. It’s only another forty five days. You’ll be glad you stayed. And he was right.

The bond of loyalty with my two step fathers was forged in time. With John, my first stepfather, just when our relationship was at its best, he died unexpectedly. He was in his thirties, and I was fourteen, just returning from summer camp in Canada, after winning all the awards he had encouraged me to compete for.

In honor to all the fathers who cannot be with us, I wanted to share part of that story. Partly because he helped define me, and also as a cautionary tale, because, in my grief, instead of turning to God, I turned away. This was the begining of a long journey to restore my faith and trust in God. Something I never should have doubted.

“To say I was stunned to discover that my thirty-eight year old superhero had suffered a major coronary and was in a coma, would be an understatement. This had to be some weird dream that I kept trying to awaken from. I was in shock.

My grandmother took me to her house and told me which room I would be staying in. She asked me if I wanted something to eat.

Can we go to the hospital? I asked.

Not just yet. I can take you later. You should wash up and have something to eat.

I had lost my appetite, so went upstairs to take a shower. As the warm water poured over me I cried out to God in anguish, please God, don’t let him die! I’ll do anything. Take me instead of him! We are all so happy, everything is so perfect. Please, please, please let him be ok. God please let him live!

When I saw him at the Intensive Care Unit, he was on a respirator along with the usual web of tubes and wires for comatose patients. That was the last time I saw him, barely alive, supposedly brain dead, perhaps already beyond this world. His discolored form lay on that hospital bed, pretending to breathe with the help of a machine.

After he passed my mother returned home, weary and broken down. She was thirty six. We finally had time to talk, amidst the planning and the calls. He knew about it you know, all your awards at camp, he knew what you did, she said.

How? I asked, mixed with skepticism and grief, still in utter shock.
I told him. I kneeled down and whispered in his ear and told him how well you did. She reached out and pulled me close. When I told him, he cried. He knew Ricky, he heard me. And as she hugged me, we sobbed together, sharing each other’s pain and grief. I cried because I was grateful, because I was sad, and because I knew this man that had made everyone in my life so happy, if only for a brief chapter, was gone and he wasn’t coming back.

My sadness was shared by many on the day he was buried, at the Pioneer Cemetery. He had been a descendent of the first settlers and his final resting place was the historic Fuller family grave yard, at the end of a road in the middle of Hinsdale. An hour earlier at Grace Episcopal, our old Tudor style Anglican Church, for the first time ever I saw my stoic German grandfather cry like a baby. John’s body, in its casket, was ceremoniously born down the magenta runner, out of the big carved doors, towards its final rest, as we sang the “Battle Hymn of the Republic:” My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of The Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on:
Glory, glory hallelujah …..

The cradle of mourners at the wake eventually thinned out, later that day and over the weeks and months. My grief was my own, not understanding how to reconcile the sadness and devastation, that had suddenly broken my world. Nothing that had come before had prepared me for this. If anything, I had felt set up, to be torn down. God was there for me, but in my grief I held Him responsible.”

Looking back now, I finally realized that God was always faithful and present. It was in the struggles of life, in its hardships, that we are offered opportunities to grow spiritually. Having a Heavenly Father that can be trusted is a gift beyond measure, but it is one that must be received. It is the most valuable relationship we will ever have, and it is one that must be pursued if it is to become what it is meant to be, in all its power and blessing.

May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. -Psalm 115:14-15

Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 24; Psalms 114–115; Isaiah 51; Revelation 21

May your Father’s Day be filled with grace, and gratitude for your earthly father and awe and reverence for your Father in Heaven. Amen.