Daddy. How I love to say that word...that name.
For me, Daddy equals love, security, protection, caring, encouragement. My daddy's extraordinary work ethic and devotion to his family has set a marvelous example.
Dad was never tall in stature - though as a child, I surely thought he was.
But, Dad has always been tall in character, values, and faith. I recall passing my parents' bedroom when the door was slightly ajar. There he knelt in prayer.
That's when he was tallest of all. In humility before God, his perspective soared beyond heights any human could achieve on his own.
Together we prayed at the table. Together we went to church.
I remember how special I felt at one Easter Sunrise service and breakfast. It was just Daddy and me!
I am richly blessed with many such memories.
But, I'm acutely aware that not every person has such rich memories though every child deserves their father's love. Yet, in this fallen world where sin abounds, many children grow up without parents or in homes in which they are not cared for.
Unfortunately, children deprived of a father's love often picture an unloving Heavenly Father - a depiction Satan manipulatively cultivates to keep them from God's perfect love.
But, God longs for us to know him and receive his love. When Jesus was on earth he demonstrated the love, compassion and mercy of the Father. Jesus says in John 14: 9b & 11a, NIV,
"Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father...Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me."
Shaking free of fearful lies and embracing the truth opens a person to the Father/Son or Father/daughter relationship that will fulfill them for eternity.
In Psalm 68: 1a and 5 it says, "Sing to God, sing praise to his name...A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling."
Don't miss the clue that will stamp out the lie and open us to the truth. Praise!
God dwells in that praise and Satan is paralyzed by it.
I wish everyone had a father - a daddy - whose stature was derived from the height of bent knees in prayer like my Dad. But, that same Father God to whom my 90-year-old daddy prays awaits every one who will come to him through God the Son, Jesus Christ.
Perhaps this Father's Day someone will bend their own knees and come to know their Father in heaven.
Selah
Jan Merop of Sebring is a New-Sun correspondent.
Sunday, June 21, 2009 - www.newssun.com/0621-pause