Most of you who
knew my Dad, knew that he did not believe automobiles should come
equipped with brakes.
They were simply
not needed most of the time, especially when it came to driving
over pot holes in the road. He would drive right over them, never
braking or slowing down.
Our bones were
thoroughly rattled by the time we reached our destination. I remember
asking Dad one day, as we were out driving, what those holes he
kept hitting so often were called.
He laughingly
told me they were called "Chug Holes". I very seriously responded
to his answer with the very best 4 year old query of my own, "Daddy
is that where Chugs live?"
My father loved
to tell this story often, much to my teenage years' embarrassment,
but now I can think back on it and chuckle, because I recognize
that same attitude I had for my Dad, was one my children have
now for my husband and myself.
I believed everything
my Father told me, when I was young, as my children now believe
me, when I tell them something. I believed my Father would tell
me the truth of a matter, always, and right up until his death,
if I asked Him his opinion on what he felt was the right thing
for me to do in certain situations, he would tell me.
He was almost
always right. All my children have to know
is that if Mommy
or Daddy said it, then it would be so, no ifs, ands, or buts.
I have known children to get into fights over statements their
Father had made to them.
I had total faith
in my Father and in his ability to take care of and provide for
me no matter what obstacle might rear it's ugly head to challenge
this faith. Dad knew that I had faith in him, too, and he never
let me down.
I know it's so
easy to tease our youngsters and tell them that the color purple
is really brown, or that a cow is really a horse, or some such
nonsense, and have them to believe it. But what happens when they
find out that Dad or Mom has let them down? Everything Mom or
Dad said wasn't true... It is sometimes quite disturbing for smaller
children to realize that Mom and Dad aren't quite perfect. We're
still a 'work in progress," as the popular slogan states.
Children do not
recognize 'works in progress" unless it's themselves. And if they
find out that being a work in progress is an excuse, we'd better
look out! We don't want a 'work in progress God, either"!
When we have
a problem, we want answers from our God, right now! Answers from
our God that knows exactly what we need and how to help us and
when best to give it to us.
Yes..., I really
thought my Dad could walk on water! It will be my great pleasure
to one day watch him do that very thing!
In the meantime,
since my physical father has died, I must rely on my Spiritual
Father. He has left me His Word to rely upon. Can I really 'bank"
on what it says?
Do I have absolute
faith that God means what He says? Will He keep every word of
His Word as the truth?
The Bible says
that God will never leave us, and he will never forsake us. Joshua
1:5 states "No one will be able to stand against you all the days
of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will
never leave you nor forsake you."
The Bible also
says that God is the same yesterday and forever.
We should believe
our Heavenly Father. He has left His Word with us to get to know
Him better. Do we take His Word literally, and believe every word
just exactly as He says? All too often, I have inserted my own
"opinion" of what I thought He said, or swayed the verse in my
favor by reading more into it than what was really there!
All too often
when a man says his word is as good as his bond, we should get
the bond instead. But God is not like that. He is faithful.
Psalm 28:7 reads:
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him,
and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks
to Him in song.
I take great
comfort in knowing that my God, the Father will be there for me,
and no matter what situation I find myself in, He will be there.
John 6:35-40
I am the bread of life, He who comes to me will never go hungry,
and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told
you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the
Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will
never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my
will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will
of him who sent me… that I shall lose none of all that he has
given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will
is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall
have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Hallelujah!