The Love of a Father

Today is Father’s Day, and I’ve found myself thinking a great deal lately about the different things that Father’s Day might mean to other people, given the wide range of unique experiences that they may have had with their fathers.

Personally, I always think of Father’s Day as being a celebration of who my father is and what he did for me, rather than being about me as a father. And so, I even find myself sometimes just a little surprised when one of my kids or my wife makes it about me.

I am blessed to have a wonderful father who loved, cared and sacrificed for me, as I grew up, and who continues to love and encourage me today. He worked hard to give me a life full of rich experiences, and lived out a life of compassion and caring for others in front of me.

My relationship with my dad has a lot to do with how I understand God as my loving, Heavenly Father. Unfortunately, not all fathers leave their children with fond memories of their love and support.

So I can’t help but think that it must be harder for those who did not have a wonderful father, to experience the richness of knowing God as their Father, and having that closeness of relationship with him. With my own father, I’ve experienced the kind of love that would have caused him to lay down his own life for me, if needed, so that I could live. But what about those who haven’t known that kind of love?

And what about those, who haven’t known a father at all?

I guess it’s up to all of us to show forth the Love of God in all of our thoughts and words, and in those things that we do, so we are a reflection--however dim--of the Heavenly Father’s love for them. In doing so, perhaps they can experience what it is to be truly loved beyond measure.



“A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.” --Psalm 68:5 (NKJ)

Still in the Palm of His Hand

As an update to the previous post on my granddaughter, I thought you should know that after observing her in the hospital for a couple of days, it was decided that the symptoms that she was exhibiting were not of enough concern to make it necessary to do any kind of emergency surgery. As a result she was released from the hospital and allowed to return home where she will await the originally scheduled surgery on June 25th -- still in the palm of His hand.

In the Palm of His Hand

Our grand-daughter, Elania, is in a fight for her very life.

She was first diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor when she was only two years old. After surgery, chemo-therapy, radiation, and a second surgery, she remained cancer free up until she was seven, at which time they found another tumor had developed.

Once again she had to have surgery, but this time it was even more invasive than before, as they had to go through her cerebellum in order to remove the main tumor. The decision was made to treat a couple of other areas of concern with chemotherapy. The surgery left her with some challenges in her efforts to recover and unfortunately, despite more than a year of chemotherapy (some of it very aggressive), test results showed that one of the areas of concern had grown.

The decision was made to do surgery again and a date was set. Unfortunately, before the surgery could take place Elania started displaying symptoms which led her dad to take her to the emergency room at a hospital in Savannah, Georgia, last night. From there they felt the need to airlift her to the hospital in Atlanta where the surgery was originally scheduled.

At the time that I am writing this, I don’t know any other information as to how she is doing, and that fact is very frustrating, but at the same time I have a deep inner peace that can only come from God.

I believe it comes from the personal relationship that I have with my Heavenly Father and the trust that I put in Him. I know that He knows the end from the beginning and while things happen that I don’t understand, it just isn’t always necessary for me to figure it all out. I just need to hang onto the knowledge that no matter what happens, God will bring good out of it as I trust in Him. And in that trust is the peace that passes understanding.

I choose to believe that God is good, all the time, and that He is for me rather than against me. That is why I can come to Him like a child comes to his father, and give him any concerns that I have, knowing He is well able to take care of them all.

The devil, on the other hand is a liar and will do everything that he can to deceive us so that we won’t trust God.

So this morning, with the alarming reports of last night still fresh in my mind, the Lord prepared me for this time of not knowing.

He spoke to me.

It wasn’t like an audible voice. No flashes of lightning or claps of thunder. It was just a quiet reminder of something that I already knew in my heart.

These words came gently up from the inside of me.

“The devil may blow and he may bluster, but the LORD says, 'I’ve got this one in the palm of My hand.'”

(Interestingly, “bluster” is not a word that I would typically use, so I decided to look up the definition in Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary where I found that it carries these meanings: to talk or act with noisy swaggering threats, or to blow in stormy noisy gusts, or to be windy and boisterous. Sounds to me like he is just a bunch of hot air!)

Our prayer is and always will be that Elania be made healed and whole, however God chooses to do that, and our comfort is in knowing he holds her in the palm of His hand.