Father's Day

My dad is everything to me. I suppose everyone is a product of their father, literally speaking at the least, but I am certainly much more than just a biological creation of the guy. He has without a doubt shaped me into the man I am today. I often find myself pondering my relationship with God and the only way that I can conceive how God feels about me is to begin with my earthly father. I have this song that I listen to by Yellowcard who happens to be a punk rock band that seemingly maintains good relationships with their fathers, which is a rarity among these punk rocker types. The song talks about how this guy thinks about his dad and him standing on the beach while he was really young and how is father towers over him. He says that he is still that same boy and "now I'm older I wanna be the same as you". The lyrics don't say it all but I am reminded of the times that I went to the beach and I can see the pictures of me holding my dad's hands while we jumped the waves as they crashed into the shore. My father's size at the time was a reminder that he could protect me and that he would protect me from any predator. I knew my father would fight for me as a kid and that makes it all the easier to know that there is a God out there who also loves me enough to fight for me. In fact he did fight for me, it was about 2,000 years ago (human being time) when God became flesh and lived among us. His death was some sort of spiritual ransom for many and I know that His sacrifice took care of the punishment that I deserve.

Dad, thanks for being my first clue in finding the truth of God. Thanks for loving me before I loved you and thanks for being trustworthy, honest, providing, unselfish, and for staying with Mom all these years. It takes a lot of commitment to stay with one person your whole life. and if you had left your wife; I would certainly be more likely to leave mine one day. I'm learning a lot lately about considering others better than yourself (Philippians 2:3) and if you think about it no one who considers others better than themself would ever leave their husband or wife. It is always a selfish move. I'm lucky that I've learned these things just because God decided to give me a great father like you.
I love you Dad!

~Alan