I just got back from another week of taking kids from my church to camp. I sit here today, on Father’s Day, replaying the same story in my head that happened while being away and feel like it couldn’t have been any more significant to continually think about on such a day as this.
To give you a little pre-story: during the day my group's ministry site was at a community center where we played games with children all day. Yes we were there to play games and entertain the children, but more than that we were there to tell these children about Jesus and show His love to them. I mean what could be better than playing dodge ball and basketball only to take a break and tell a kid how much God loves them.
So one afternoon I finish playing around with some of the kids in the gym and sit in the bleachers by this one little boy just hanging out by himself. We start a casual conversation about the basketball game, continue to talk about how he has a sister who is also there with him that day, followed by him telling me he has tons of brothers and sisters. He had so many siblings I was blown away and curious if they all lived in the same house. He explained that some of them lived with him, his mother and his stepdad. The others lived with his dad, however he never saw or talked to his dad. This did not come as a surprise to me but it still made my heart sad that this kid had no associations with his father. He continued to tell me about how his dad had made him promises and never followed through with them. Promises that to him were huge: he was going to buy him a new pair of Nikes for Christmas, he was going to come see him on his birthday, he would take him to the park one day. Promises only made to be broken. He told me his dad never showed him love. Light bulb.
And so the conversation continued a little something like this:
Me: “Well even though your dad here on earth doesn’t love you, you still have a dad that loves you so much. Do you know who I’m talking about?”
Little Boy: “My stepdad?”
Me: “Yeah your stepdad does love you, but I’m talking about someone who loves you even more than that and will always love you no matter what. I’m talking about God. Have you ever heard about Him and how much He loves you?
Little Boy: “No, not really.”
And so the door was opened for me to freely talk about how much God loves this little boy. How much He loves everyone on such a deeper level than any father here on earth can love us.
I can’t think of a better truth to proclaim on Father’s Day. Our Abba is LOVE!
