Fathers: The Hope For All The Ages

Hebrew  'ab, Greek pater

founder

chief

principal

nourisher

benefactor

parent

teacher

An intimate relationship

Throughout the entire Bible, God the Father loved His people, had mercy on them, blessed them, disciplined them, insisted on their loyalty and devotion, provided for them, and protected them.  He has fathered all of us, and still does, through our earthly fathers, intercessors who substituted for the lack of a father, and even mothers, who have had to fill in the position of a father-type role.

No matter what our story is, and the quilt of your family, somehow you were fathered.  Your father, or the father to your children, may reflect only some of those qualities, listed in the Hebrew and Greek words for father.  Yet, no matter what your family history, you will find that God fills in the blank spaces in unique ways.

Where you had no fathering, He provides someway.  Where you had fathering, He nurtures and encourages you to share.  Yes, we all wish we lived in a world where people were perfect...yet, if we did, we would have no need of God.  Jesus would not have needed to die on the cross for our sins, and salvation would be forced on us.  Yet, for better or for worse, God gave all of us a choice to receive Him.  

God the Father is the perfect father to all of us, filling in the gaps in an imperfect world.  

The Lord's blessings to you this week~Kim

In the Word Wednesday: A Man Shall Leave His Father and Mother

It is in His Word.  

It can't get much clearer than this.  

Marriage is between a man and a woman; it is a reflection of Christ and the Church.

Marriage is Adam and Eve.  

Yet, Jesus drew ALL to Him.  

The single women.

The single men.

The married male and female.  

ALL come to Him first, and then come together.  

Yet, the world is not perfect.

There are broken-hearted single people.

Widows and widowers.

Unequally yoked marriages.

Equally yoked marriages that still struggle.

Yet, no matter how we all look at our lives and relationships with the opposite sex, 

Jesus is the center of ALL!

He is the Way, the Truth and the Life!

As if to remind me that our life was far from Leave it to Beaver, the Lord sent us a goat.

It started when my son went over to a neighbor's house, and a lone goat was wandering around the road.  Mind you, we don't exactly live in the sticks, so this is pretty unusual anyway.  However, people have been known to drop off their unwanted dogs in our neighborhood.

They seem to know that we will care for the lost and broken animals in our area.

The goat follows my son all the way to the neighbor's house, bleating and acting like he needed my son.  My teenager ran to the house, forgot to shut the gate behind him, and the goat came and found him...As he left the house, the neighbor's dog decided to join in the procession.

Both dog and goat followed my son home, and as I spotted them walking up the road, I could not help but laugh hysterically at this sight, of my son the animal magnet.

You know, sometimes we get so angry at this special needs life, that we forget to laugh.

Before my son trudged up the road with his buddies, I was actually having a rather difficult day.  Everything was going against my need to complete my tasks and duties.  In fact, it has been the norm more often that I care to admit this spring. My progress has been slow in too many ways, and some days frustration sets in.

Then along came that goat.

He has been quite stubborn and unyielding. I would have rather appreciated a lamb, or even a herd of sheep!  In the past, I thought about getting a goat to help eat the ever-growing field of grass and weeds around us, or maybe even to milk one, but I surmised, "What would I do with a goat?"  It would be yet another thing I needed to learn and another animal to take care of.

Plus, we parents all know that when push comes to shove, it won't be the kids who take care of it, it will be us!  I don't care how much they think they want an animal.

So, for now we have him settled in a pen---until we find his real owners?  If we don't, then I guess we will have to see what the Lord has in store for us!

As for our special needs life...

Some days things are really dismal in life, and with our special needs kiddos.  In fact, we can look around and see nothing but chaos and destruction.  Watching the news alone can stir that up.  Yet, we, as Christians, can bend our ear to the Lord, and cry out our distress to Him.  It is our gift from the Lord, and our strength.

Honestly, sometimes we choose, though, to become goats when it comes to listening to God.  We may try to fix and control things, instead of praying.  We may not reign in our emotions, like we should.  We simply may decide that God does not know what He is doing, and we can do it ourselves.

In trials, we find out that He is more than enough!

He is the source of our joy.

Honestly, we can practice the Christian religion, going to church, rotely reading our Year through the Bible plan, or recite the same prayers over and over again, but the truth is that Jesus wants us to have a passionate, incredible journey with Him!  The rest is all religion.

Jesus wants us to be sheep, following Him passionately.   He wants us to learn to trust Him, and seek out His will for each step of our lives.

So, we may struggle to not get caught up in our daily duties and activities to the point that we forget to worship and praise the One who created us!  It is then we need to take a time out in prayer, praise, and reading of our Bible so that we are refreshed.

We cannot encourage others to follow Him, especially our families, if we do not walk the walk ourselves.  

Even when we may have daily struggles....

We are not left without the opportunity for peace in Christ, in the midst of  a world at odds with our children's needs.  How then can we share the Gospel with others? When we are tired and burned out, our feelings may ring more like how can we be nice to mean and evil people?  In our flesh, we can't.  We probably act more like goats;-)

Yet, truly, if our eyes are open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, the Lord will use our purpose in Him, along with other sheep, the lost, and even a few goats, who cross our paths.  It is then that we will see and understand His glory in a brand new way.

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  John 14:6

He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!