God Our Father

from: http://www.bellewoodchurch.com/hosealogo.png

    In our country today many will be celebrating Father's Day, others will mourn their fathers, others will ignore the holiday exists because of the poor father they grew up with.  Either way, Fathers and Fatherhood is paramount today.

  Last night, I spoke on God as Father and shared from Hosea 3 5 key things God as Father is/does.  You see, some of us have pretty messed up views as to what or who a Father is.  Our image of 'Father' can be and probably is a bit distorted and we then take this distorted view of 'Father' and place that upon the shoulders of God because he claims to be a 'Father' to us who believe.  But who is God as Father?

Hosea 3 gives a great picture of God as Father and I think gives us 5 things God is and does as Father.

And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”  So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.  And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.”  For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.  Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days. (Hosea 3 ESV)

1.  God as Father pursues Us 

     Just like Hosea went after Gomer and bought her back from her pimp, God pursues us.  When we walk away from the fold, he comes after us.  Matthew 18:11-13 gives us a beautiful picture as to what this pursuit looks like as well.  Hosea walked to the pimp who Gomer, his wife sold herself and he buys her back.  To me, there isn't a better picture of the pursuit of God than that.  In our humanity, we'd give up on such a person.  Let her go our friends would say.  She's a whore our family would say.  Yet Hosea went after her.  We (you AND I) are Gomer, we tie ourselves into bondage to sins and cheat on God yet he comes after us!

2.  God as Father Loves recklessly 

      As I mentioned above, many would write Gomer off, yet God in his great, crazy reckless love chooses to love us and come after us.  This love seems incomprehensible because to our human understanding it makes no sense.  Sometimes God loves and it makes no sense.  When we get loved this way, it changes the ball game.  When we understand the depth of this love it changes us, we become undone by his pursuit and the intensity of his love.

3.  God as Father shows us we are significant

      Gomer thought little of herself.  We know this to be true because the price Hosea paid for her from her pimp.  The price he paid was low, which means Gomer sold herself for much less than what Hosea paid.  She felt herself worthless, ugly, unwanted, trashy...so she sold herself at that level.  I'm sure Hosea would have paid 10x's that much because he wanted his wife back and God paid in blood for you and I.  He went to our pimp (Satan, sin and death) and paid the ultimate price of his life.  We are not insignificant, we are not worthless, we are not unwanted, we are not trashy, we are Loved!

4.  God as Father shows us how to love

      Experiencing this love teaches us a lesson in how we too are to love.  Looking at our situation, recognizing what God did for us causes us to reevaluate what love is.  It causes us to rethink how we love others and eventually changes the way in which we love because it is such a raw, real deep, reckless love that it transforms the way in which we view the world.

 

5.  God as Father Heals our broken view of fathers

      Seeing God as Father do for us what Hosea did, allows us to see that the views of 'Father' we've allowed to dominate our thinking no longer hold sway.  The images of father we have or had can still effect us when we forget the depth of God the Father's love, but they no longer need to define who God is as Father.  He's not the abuser, the religious task master, the absent presence, the hateful dominator or the father who never seems pleased.  He is a reckless lover of His Children and paid the ultimate price to have his children back in his arms!

  These 5 keys to God as Father are but the beginning.  Not only does it teach us how to re-view God but it gives us fathers a guide to see how we are to love our own children.  I know I fail at this a lot more than I care to admit but I desire to be a Daddy like God...and I desire my son to be a Daddy like God.  I desire my daughter to marry a man who will be a Daddy like God...don't you?

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Raising a Super Hero

  I simply love being a Daddy, I can't get enough of it sometimes...other times, it can be tough...but on the whole, I love it! 

Raising a boy especially can be challenging and super fun all at the same time, especially a boy who thinks he's a super hero! That is my son.  He IS a super-hero.   He is also a complete hoot who continuously says things like:

MJ: daddy are you sick?
Me: no MJ are you sick?
MJ: no, I'm just Spiderman 

or

When playing with Amelia's (his little sister) cheerleader rubber ducky MJ : "I like cheerleaders! They're hot and they burn my mouth!"

or

MJ: mommy I want your coffee
Me: no MJ you can't have it
MJ: I can!
Me: no you can't buddy its for adults
MJ: Daddy, I'm a poop fake...so I can!

My son is (in his mind) a super hero that speaks his mind.  Each day he wears a different super-hero shirt and he claims he is that particular hero for that day.  For me, I love this!  Not only am I a huge super-hero fan myself but my son sees himself in a way I as an adult no longer can...he sees that he can be anything he sets his mind to.  He sees a world of possibilities without the limitations I as an adult have.

I think this is something to be cultivated, not stifled.  I think too often, we are quick to stifle our children's creativity and imagination and self-image.  We give our cynicism, we give our fears and we give our doubts to our children.  We say: "no, you can't be that" or "that's dangerous".  In this and our sometimes "overprotective" parenting I think we fail to cultivate our children's hearts.   When we fail to cultivate their hearts we can hinder them for the long run.

  As a Daddy, I wrestle with my son, I chase him while I pretend to be "The silly Joker" and he is Batman.  I read stories to my son, I teach him how to be a hero and how we are to save the Princesses in our lives (Mommy and Amelia).  I cultivate his warrior spirit and challenge him to act like Jesus.  I teach my son that the dinner table is the only place he can't say "poopy" because it messes with people's eating, but I then say: "saying poopy anywhere else is OK".  I show my son how to love Mommy and love Amelia by giving tender kisses and hugs.  I teach my son the importance of cleaning the house and helping Mommy feel special by doing the dishes.  I do this all in his super-hero language, cultivating the good stuff inside his little 2 year old mind.

Many may disagree with these things and my approach to them but this is how I Daddy my Super-Hero.  

I also Daddy by letting MJ try "risky" (to him) things.  For example one time he wanted to jump from a foot stool to the ground.  Hilary had a really tough time with this because he could get hurt.  I told her: "We have got to let him make this jump because if he makes it, imagine how powerful he will feel and how excited he will be at his success.  If he falls, we are right here to comfort him and challenge him to try again".  She eventually relented and we allowed MJ to jump.

He landed it perfect and the look of sheer excitement went on his face, because he conquered what seemed like a huge challenge!

As parents, it's not easy to watch our kids do these things, but when they do and they accomplish them without us they grow.

  I think this is particularly important for young men these days.  So many young men have been raised by overprotective parents and these men aren't acting as men.  I do not mean to knock moms, its simply a fact that moms are more protective of their kids than a father is, so things like risk taking and adventures and "being a super-hero" are things that mothers frown upon more often.  

If a boy doesn't know how to take risks, go on adventures and be a super-hero, he will seek these things as a "man"  in unhealthy ways...or, he will become a lump who does all his adventuring,  "hero-ing" and risk taking on a video game or vicariously through movies.  Which leaves the woman he is supposed to love and rescue forgotten and alone.  More and more men are walking away from wives and families...I do not want my son to be among that number.  I desire to teach him how to be a good man, husband and daddy.

I love being a Daddy and I love teaching my son about being a hero, going on adventures and taking risks.  I'm not saying I got it perfect, but this a little window in how I am raising my little Super-Hero!

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My Little Buddy!

  I may not express this often in this venue (the blog) but I LOVE being a Daddy!  I just can't help but crack a grin when I think of my little guy.  I mean, look at that picture of him smiling...how can you NOT crack a grin with that little face looking at you smiling?

  Having a son has made me reflect a lot, mostly internally on what it means to be a father.  It's helped me see in myself my own selfishness, which is complete and utter sin.

  Being a daddy has also helped me sense, experience and think about God in a whole new way.  He has revealed himself more times than I can count in the short time I've been a dad and I love it!

  One of those moments was on a recent "Daddy Day" that MJ and I had together.  Hilary has been working on Mondays, so little buddy and I hang out all day on Mondays.  About a week ago, he and I were having our day together when we went to the playground to play.  I usually let him loose and let him walk all by himself to the playground where he begins to play on the plastic slide, the little plastic tube and pretends to drive the car with the metal steering wheel that pops out of the plastic wall.

  Before we got to the gate, MJ runs back over to me and raises his right arm to me.  This was a new gesture for me, so I looked at his little hand sticking in the air and finally realized he wanted me to hold his hand!

  Not to be overly sappy but this hit me in a profound way where I almost started to cry.  He wanted his daddy to hold his hand and lead him to the playground.  He didn't want to go it alone and he wasn't afraid or embarrassed to lift his little hand and ask me to hold it as I guided him into the play area.

  The sad thing is, I forgot all about this story until just now.  I didn't tell Hilary about it because I forgot it.  As I remembered it, I vowed I would write it down because it was an extremely touching Father to Son moment.

  He has since done it to me a couple times (usually he does it to Mommy) and each time, it warms my heart.  Being entrusted with this little munchkin as my responsibility is daunting at times but rewarding all the time.  I am called to be a steward of my sons heart.  His heart ultimately belongs to Jesus, not me so I am asked for this short time before he grows up to guard that little heart, protect it and grow it up in the way in which it should go.

   I'm lucky, because I have an amazing, beautiful and wonderful woman who can do and does more than I do with him.  Hilary loves that boy so much and it is such a joy to watch her interact with him and see his little smile light up when he sees her and plays with her. 

  This is my family, this is my home! God has blessed me with such amazing family members that I'm blown away by His grace.  It blows my mind to think that so many "dads" are out there neglecting and ignoring their children.  Is it hard sometimes?  Yes.  Is all that worth it?  ABSOLUTELY!  Men who walk away from their children are childish punks who shouldn't be having sex.

  OK, I should stop before I write another post on that...

  Fatherhood is amazing and a blessing to me.  I wouldn't trade it for the world!

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