I just want you to know my daddy
Daddy kept a file with my name on it. Inside were papers I wrote in college, along with letters I wrote him and an occasional piece of paper with legal significance. There was even an unopened overdue notice for some payment back in, I don't know whether it was the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s.
Clipped to many of these papers were little pieces of paper from a cash register roll with little numbers written on them and some words. I don't know if I could even tell you what they meant. All I know is that it was in my dad's writing. So, instead of throwing them away, I set them aside, clipped them back to something and returned them to the file.
As everyone else's, my dad's writing was distinctive. The difference, now, is that as a debilitating disease took over his brain more and more, he was unable even to write his name right before he died in February 2011. But I thought, as I reserved those small pieces of paper for at least a little while longer, how precious those words and numbers were to me simply because he wrote them.
What this urge to treasure spoke to me was that I have words and numbers preserved in a book by another father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns forever. This book is the Bible. When I open it up and open my heart, the words in this book talk to me of the love God has for me and for you.
Im the same way I want people to know how wonderful my biological father was (see http://www.glenndcogswell.blogspot.com/ and http://www.losingdaddy-asthecogsturn.blogspot.com/) I want to make God the Father known to others. Since I was born again of the Spirit of God, I am not just occupying space on this planet, working through the week, collecting a paycheck and hoping everything turns out for the best.
This Creator God has given me hope of eternal life in heaven with Jesus Christ, the firstborn of many brethren, who rose again as I also will rise again to new life forever and ever. Jesus said that people who did not believe in him were already condemned (John 3:18) and, in verse 19, that that the condemnation is the fact that people "loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
I have looked for and cannot fine a paper I had with me this morning, something I wrote in college many years ago, before I knew Jesus Christ, before I knew God, before I was saved, born again. I was writing about philosophy, and it was really quite thought-provoking, I suppose. The concluding thought was that it was "fun" not having any answers. The truth is it was not "fun" at all.
I was angry, confused and had very little direction when I was in college. My parents' divorce nearly destroyed me. I had such a wounded heart no one could mend it, not Prince Charming himself. And then the years spent growing up in a single-parent family with lots of issues pushed me further and further away from peace and contentment until God finally had mercy on me and saved me.
I am glad now for all the hardships and trials God has allowed in my life. Many of the people I looked up to and admired -- and loved---during the early years of my life, still do not know God as Father and I often think, what if I were still with them? And I give thanks to God for leading me in a different direction, even if it seemed horrible at the time to leave a trail of broken relationships down through the years. They led me to my daddy God.
No matter how perfect or imperfect my biological father might have been, no one could father me like God has fathered me. I have rebelled and resisted and complained but he has not let me go. It is true that he heals the broken-hearted. I know I'm not a finished work yet, but God is shaping me like the lump of clay on the potter's wheel. I still have lots to learn about trust, but even so, I say, "I just want you to know my daddy."
I want you to know my Father even more than I want you to know my biological father. My biological father was wonderful, and even though he was flawed, I believe God made him his and I will see him again. But, even more than that, the Father I want to share with the world is the One who made heaven and earth, who made you and me, and who sent his only Son, that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
Clipped to many of these papers were little pieces of paper from a cash register roll with little numbers written on them and some words. I don't know if I could even tell you what they meant. All I know is that it was in my dad's writing. So, instead of throwing them away, I set them aside, clipped them back to something and returned them to the file.
As everyone else's, my dad's writing was distinctive. The difference, now, is that as a debilitating disease took over his brain more and more, he was unable even to write his name right before he died in February 2011. But I thought, as I reserved those small pieces of paper for at least a little while longer, how precious those words and numbers were to me simply because he wrote them.
What this urge to treasure spoke to me was that I have words and numbers preserved in a book by another father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns forever. This book is the Bible. When I open it up and open my heart, the words in this book talk to me of the love God has for me and for you.
Im the same way I want people to know how wonderful my biological father was (see http://www.glenndcogswell.blogspot.com/ and http://www.losingdaddy-asthecogsturn.blogspot.com/) I want to make God the Father known to others. Since I was born again of the Spirit of God, I am not just occupying space on this planet, working through the week, collecting a paycheck and hoping everything turns out for the best.
This Creator God has given me hope of eternal life in heaven with Jesus Christ, the firstborn of many brethren, who rose again as I also will rise again to new life forever and ever. Jesus said that people who did not believe in him were already condemned (John 3:18) and, in verse 19, that that the condemnation is the fact that people "loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
I have looked for and cannot fine a paper I had with me this morning, something I wrote in college many years ago, before I knew Jesus Christ, before I knew God, before I was saved, born again. I was writing about philosophy, and it was really quite thought-provoking, I suppose. The concluding thought was that it was "fun" not having any answers. The truth is it was not "fun" at all.
I was angry, confused and had very little direction when I was in college. My parents' divorce nearly destroyed me. I had such a wounded heart no one could mend it, not Prince Charming himself. And then the years spent growing up in a single-parent family with lots of issues pushed me further and further away from peace and contentment until God finally had mercy on me and saved me.
I am glad now for all the hardships and trials God has allowed in my life. Many of the people I looked up to and admired -- and loved---during the early years of my life, still do not know God as Father and I often think, what if I were still with them? And I give thanks to God for leading me in a different direction, even if it seemed horrible at the time to leave a trail of broken relationships down through the years. They led me to my daddy God.
No matter how perfect or imperfect my biological father might have been, no one could father me like God has fathered me. I have rebelled and resisted and complained but he has not let me go. It is true that he heals the broken-hearted. I know I'm not a finished work yet, but God is shaping me like the lump of clay on the potter's wheel. I still have lots to learn about trust, but even so, I say, "I just want you to know my daddy."
I want you to know my Father even more than I want you to know my biological father. My biological father was wonderful, and even though he was flawed, I believe God made him his and I will see him again. But, even more than that, the Father I want to share with the world is the One who made heaven and earth, who made you and me, and who sent his only Son, that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
As a full-time single dad, money gets tight. My lease is ending on our 5 bedroom house and I’m bleeding cash I don’t have. My daycare costs are going up. These are realities of being a responsible dad. Faith and Hope keeps me going....
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