Why I Avoid "Father God"

Some days I have brilliant moments, moments like scheduling this post so that the person I'm writing about doesn't see it because they're on a mountain with me this week. But most of the time, things just happen and I wonder why I was so stupid. This Father's Day I avoided a stupid moment and replaced it with a smarter moment. I'm going to tell a story about a kid, a sweet teenager, who constantly makes me laugh and challenges me to think. I'll call him Sammy since I don't want his identity to be know.

After church on Father's Day, Sammy and I found ourselves walking over to my house to kill some time before going to play soccer with some interns. I opted to play some games while Sammy decided to watch "Surviving the Cut" and another survival show. It's his obsession. So I gave him my military survival manual to read, and he skipped past the survival parts to read all about the necessary combat moves, which didn't surprise me. 

The mistake I almost made was calling my dad. I know that sounds strange, but it really would have been insensitive. Most of our kids, do not have a father in their life. Some have walked in and out of their lives, some have died, others were never there to begin with. A painful reality we, at Impact, deal with every day. In this case, Sammy's dad died in Honduras. Sammy tells me gang violence led to his dad and uncle being beheaded which may or may not be true. Regardless of whether it is true or not, celebrating my dad with him nearby would be cruel. 

Throughout my years of being involved at Impact, I have slowly filtered out things like "Father God" from my prayers. I don't want the kids to immediately connect God to a deadbeat dad and write him off. I want them to gradually see that God is not that father, but is a loving one. 

So today, I'm thankful for my dad more everyday I work here. We may have had our spats and we may be totally different people, but he is a good dad. And I love him for that. Thanks Dad! So my charge to anyone who reads this is that you seek to love those without fathers in your life. I believe the lack of good fathers in this country and world is the cause for a host of problems, and the church can make a difference in this. And be thankful if you do have a good dad.