So I know I have a few of these to catch up on, but I’ll try not to rush, but just tell the stories. I’ve met a ton of people while I’ve been traveling that I can’t wait to introduce you to. The only problem may be narrowing it down to a couple of stories. So here I go…
I’ve left home before, but this time was crazy hard. Not only am I taking off on my own without knowing exactly what is in store, but I’m leaving some of the hardest relationships I’ve ever had to leave. I know many of you have been praying for my relationship with my brother and his family, and God has blessed that. For one of the first times, I see him and his wife as two of my closest friends and that’s hard to leave. My parents are growing tremendously in their ministries and play such a huge role in my home church and it’s hard to not be a part of it. There may be another relationship too that made this departure unusually hard, but I’ll hold onto that one for now. Needless to say, flying out of LAX was one of the most emotional days I’ve had in a long time.
Knowing this background, you can see what Cindy was about to get herself into sitting beside me for a 16 hour flight. I prayed that God would hurry the flight up so I could get to the Philippines as fast as possible and not have to talk to anyone. I hate being emotional, so let’s just hurry this thing u. I slept for the first 8 hours (miracle!) but then still had 8 hours to go (reality…). As much as I didn’t want to talk to people that night, the social side got the best of me.
We went through one area of turbulence and I saw Cindy make the sign of the cross. I asked her if she considered herself a religious person and she was rather shocked I was just now talking with her. She said she considered herself a very religious Catholic and that as long as she recognized God, God would recognize her. So this began a nice long conversation about passions, jobs, fathers, and careers.
Come to find out, Cindy is Filipino and is a mother of 3 grown children, all in the States. After many years of being in the US, she has felt the need to come and try to bring the same hope her children have to the children of the Philippines. She had several materials relating to child development and the proper way to raise children physically, psychologically, and emotionally. It was easy to see the mother in her coming out for these children. Without even knowing them, she loved them enough to come to them.
As the conversation went on, I was able to hear about her very strict moral standards not only for herself, but for her children. I finally just had to ask her where the love and grace of God as Father would come into play. I expected a harsh retort, but only received a huge smile. It seems that Cindy has tried for so long to raise perfect children, that she has totally minimized God’s role in the process. She’s done an incredible job of raising moral, religious children, but as a single mother for the majority of her life, has missed having a father for her children.
I think that one word, “Father� can spark a lot in us at times. Some have terrible memories of dark pasts, while others can smile at the blessing their earthly father has been. Either way, God is not a picture of our earthly father, but is the ideal image of everything that one word encompasses. He is our source of love, hope, grace, mercy; He’s the good cop and bad cop at times, but He mostly just wants us to curl up in His lap and just be. The children of this country, and all over the world, need a father. I’m confident Cindy knows this and will never be a single mother again.
I’m so thankful we have a daddy…
