Re-post – “Father & Son”

In honor of our military, I am re-posting an entry I wrote on October 23, 2008 while my oldest son, Matthew, was in basic training.  He is currently serving in the Air Guard in Louisville, Kentucky.

Father and Son (Written 10.23.08)

Please forgive me for being a little more personal than usual tonight.  Three weeks ago my son left for basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.  As expected, I did not hear from him at all during the last three weeks.  At times, the desire to hear his voice has been overwhelming.  I can only imagine what some of my co-workers and some of you face with family members serving in areas of conflict or living as missionaries for long periods of time.

Today, we received a letter and a brief call from our son. As many of you know from experience, basic training is difficult and I can tell he is struggling.  Every father fiber in me wants to jump on the next plane and go fix the situation.  Tonight, my heart aches for my son.  When he hurts, I hurt.  All I know to do is to wait and to pray!  Again I’ve prayed, “Father, take care of my boy. Strengthen Him through your Holy Spirit. Support Him.  Sustain Him.  Hold Him.  Let Him know You are there!”

Can you imagine the pain our Heavenly Father felt while His Son was suffering on the cross?  Can we even begin to understand how God the Father’s heart ached when Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”  Surely every Father fiber in Him wanted to come down here and rescue His Son!  But, His love for us, kept Him from bailing out.  His love compelled Him to hold back.  His love saw past the cross to our forgiveness.

Tonight, I am reminded of similar moments of pain on my journey of following Jesus.  As I’ve walked with Christ, I’ve discovered two things that I cling to tonight: God is faithful and God is love.  In no way, does that mean that things will be easy or that things will work out the way I desire, but He is always faithful and He always loves.

Before I turn in tonight, I think I’ll be encouraged by listening to Mac Powell from Third Day as he sets the following verses to music:

“Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O Lord, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.” Psalm 36:5-7 (NIV)