FATHER'S DAY

Father's Day has come and gone. This Father's Day marked the first for my wife without her dad and my seventh without my dad. Being a dad is a challenge, maybe one of life's greatest challenges. Maybe I should rephrase. If you desire to be a good dad and lead your family and train your children to be persons of character and follow the Christian faith, it is a monumental challenge. I am thankful for a dad who did his best to train, lead and provide. I am forever a debtor to Joseph Donnerberg, and Karen would say the same about her dad, James Blankenship. I am grateful for my earthly father's love and life, but I am also grateful for a Father in heaven who loves to give good gifts to His children. A heavenly Father who knows what I need even before I ask, who gives the Holy Spirit as a most precious gift. The gift I cherish today is the presence of my heavenly Father through the Holy Spirit living in me. My Dad's presence is a distant memory. But my Father in heaven is here, with and within me today. That presence leads, guides, provides, disciplines, encourages, sanctifies, strengthens. His Spirit witnesses with my Spirit that I am His child and He loves me.