I was 14 when I had a crush on a girl named Courtney and had finally worked up enough courage to ask her out. I lived in Littleton, Colorado had a good amount of friends, enjoyed school, I was very active in my youth group, the highlight of the year was that my first armpit hair grew in, all was right with the world. Then after school one day my Dad picked me up which was not too common but I was excited, because that usually meant we had something to do that was important. Little did I know that my whole world was about to turn upside down.
My Dad told me that we had to move because of something that He did. It would be just me and him for a while, pioneering the way ahead and “boldly going” in Star Trek terms as he called it before the rest of the family would join us.
What I heard God tell me through that relationship with my Dad was to have faith. He taught me to invest faith in my Heavenly Father as much as I had, if not more than the faith that I had placed in my earthly one. In time God also used that relationship with my father to teach me maturity when we went to the mountains in Colorado. My Dad was teaching me emotional and physical maturity but my Heavenly Father was teaching me the start of my Spiritual maturity.
I have never been a patient man; my wife can vouch for that. I have since I was a little boy had this problem with patience. I would ask God to help me, to let patience come and grow within me, along with that Spiritual Maturity He was teaching me. It seemed like it would never come until September 11, 20007. My son Oren was born and it was the most amazing day of my life. Knowing him has taught my soul to be patient. Our relationship is still young and I have much more to learn as I teach him, but God has started that work within me.
This is what God does, He works within us in subtle ways he ministers to our hearts and heals us. He uses relationships to guild us and grow us. He may be saying this relationship is how I want ours to be, or please don’t let our relationship be like this one, or the love you have in this relationship is how my love is for you only deeper and longer than you can fathom, that’s what He told me with Oren.
What is God speaking to your heart? What is He telling you to change, what lesson does he want to teach you through your relationships? Ask Him, He is faithful and good.
April 23, 2008 at 3:34 pm |
I know you have heard this before…but God created mankind to be in community. He existed in community before He created time and space. We find our highest fulfillment in community. We learn who we are in community. We learn how to be in this world by being in community.
The labratory God has chosen to use to teach us how to live in community is the family. Unfortunately we don’t get to choose the family into which we were born. God chooses that for us. But he knows best.
Often He uses very flawed servants like your father to demonstrate how not to live a life of fidelity. As if you needed any tutoring in the life of sin, nonetheless you were born into a family with a very sinful father. I showed you how to sin. But I am hopeful that that is not all that I showed you. I am hopeful that you saw how to repent and return to your first love.
God forbid that you ever commit the sin I committed…but you have and will committ various other kinds of sins…for you are human…but I hope you have an idea of the process and hope of what deep repentance looks like. I hope I have showed you well how to return to your first love…Jesus.
I learned a glimpse of what unconditional love looked like when you were born.
God is amazing isn’t He?