A FATHER'S DAY TO REMEMBER

A FATHER’S DAY TO REMEMBER

                Zach and Jamie invited Bonnie and me over for a summer barbeque along with Jamie’s parents and some of their musical friends from church.  (We are meeting and making some really good friends here in Tennessee)We had a great meal with all of the trimmings. Zach has made his garage into a social gathering place with carpet and a big circle of chairs and the barbeque just outside the open door. It was perfect!

                At one point during the afternoon and thunder shower passed through and we watched the spectacle of lightening and rain as it cooled the summer heat. Then later on we retired to the living room to another smaller circle of stools and music stands. Three of us put on sort of a practice/concert of Music that Zach has written. Zach played acoustic guitar and sang, Ben alternated between violin and mandolin and I played bass.

                Zach’s songs are beautiful and loosely reminiscent of a soft bluegrass. (Minus the twangy voice and the fast picking) Zach is an excellent guitarist and singer. Ben is an excellent musician, playing violin, Mandolin and keyboards with equal proficiency. And me… well I’m catching up after not having played bass for quite some time. Nevertheless I am currently playing bass on the church worship team as well as playing with Zach, in hopes that my once nimble fingers will remember the old days.

                We played until after 9 PM then wrapped it up and said our goodbyes bringing to a close the kind of Father’s that I have dreamed about for years.

                I have spent portions of my life celebrating another kind of Father’s day. We all have one Father upon whom we depend for our very existence. In my early years I saw this Father as being a bit harsh and demanding, and like the Prodigal son, I left home and spent some time squandering my inheritance on things that don’t count for eternity. Both I and my family have paid a heavy price for my sins and so this father’s day can represent nothing less that the grace of God, to heal and restore that which was lost.

                When I came back to the Lord about 26 or so years ago, He embraced me and put His robe around me and cleaned me up and caused me to be born again. Then He wrapped me in the arms of His Holy Spirit.

                Even with all of that grace, life isn’t always easy. We stumble and fall, we get back up. We hear His voice and then we wonder if we heard His voice. Life is full of uncertainties and often hard to understand. But there is one constant reality that picks us up and moves us along and that is the unfailing love of our heavenly Father. Through His Son Jesus Christ, Yeshua the Messiah, He gave to us a covenant signed in His own blood and the earnest of His Holy Spirit as a pledge of our inheritance.

                Like Paul said in Romans 8: “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns: Christ Jesus is He who died, yes rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written;   “For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered,” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come , nor powers, nor height, nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:33-39.

                So today, in thankfulness for His amazing grace, we celebrate our one Father who loves us like no other.