Father's Day

My Dad likes to wave in pictures.

    One of my earliest memories is when my parents took me to the Bronx Zoo.   I think that I was between two and three.  My mom pushed my baby brother in a big coach carriage.  I remember watching the sea lions swimming in their circular tank.  I remember the giraffe’s and the zebras.  My favorite animals were the elephants.  I loved the way they flapped their ears and trumpeted.  To me they looked as big as a house.  Even the fuzzy baby elephant appeared huge to me.  My Dad lifted me up onto his shoulders for a better look at them.   I remember wrapping my fingers around his neck to hang on.  It was exciting and wonderful to sit safe and secure on my Daddy’s shoulders.

Isn't that cute?

     The Bible is the story of a Father’s love.  From the very first page through the very last, it speaks to us of God’s relentless redeeming passion for us.
     Jeremiah 31:3 says:  I have loved you with an everlasting love...and I have drawn you in loving-kindness.
     David shared in Psalms that God’s thoughts toward us are too numerous to count.  God our Father delights in us.  He knows the number of hairs on our heads.  He knows when we are sad, lost, alone, sick, or scared.  He knows us intimately and He loves us.  We have stolen His heart.
     I’d like to share a familiar poem.
One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed that he was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
He noticed two sets of footprints in the sand:
One belonging to him, the other to the Lord.
When the last of his life flashed before him,
He looked back at the footprints inthe sand.
He noticed that many times along the path there was only one set of footprints.
He recalled that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
He questioned, “Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
Then why during the most troublesome times in my life
When I needed you most, would you leave me?
The Lord replied, “My precious, precious child,
I love you and would never leave you.
During your times of trials and suffering,
When you see only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”
~Mary Stevenson

     Moses blessed his son Benjamin with these words, “Let Benjamin, the beloved of the Lord rest secure in the Lord, for he shields him all day long, and Benjamin, the one the Lord loves, rests between his shoulders.”
     Moses told Benjamin that he can rest secure in the Lord who is watching over him, but he also added that God has securely placed him on His shoulders.  Even today our Heavenly Father lovingly carries us on His shoulders.
     What is your earliest memory of your Dad?