My daddy is Kerwin Glenn Stover. He is a good man. He is a kind and hardworking man. Growing up I heard him tell me that he loved me every day. He sang “Jesus name above all names” to me every night. He played with me, cuddled me, and took care of me. I have memories of laying my head on his chest while sitting next to him on the couch. I would listen to his heartbeat and think how blessed I was to have him as my dad. For many years of my childhood I actually thought that my dad might be Jesus. I laugh to think of this now, but it’s true. As a young girl I never saw him lose his temper, never saw him sin. My dad was the visible image of Jesus to me and so, I thought, maybe he was Jesus, come down to earth again as my father.
As I entered adolescent years, I came to the realization that my dad had sin like everyone else. He wasn’t perfect. He wasn’t Jesus. This realization actually brought a lot of hurt with it. My super hero, Jesus, father, wasn’t as super heroish as I thought any more, but, he was and he still is a good daddy. I am thankful!
Who is your daddy? As I ask this question, I have a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes because I know that some of you have a daddy who hurt you, abused you, lied to you, or withheld affection from you. You may not even know who your dad is.
How do we have an intimate relationship with Jesus if we don’t trust the Father, or we don’t fully know His love for us? How do we get to the secret place and hear the Holy Spirit’s voice if we are afraid of what the Father is going to say? We all have an earthly daddy. Some of us have good daddies, some of us not. We ALL have imperfect fathers. And we ALL are asked to forgive our fathers for whatever they did or didn’t do.
When we receive Jesus, we also we receive His Father. God, King of the Universe becomes OUR dad. HUGE! We are now ROYALTY in the kingdom of God. What does this do to our identity?! What should it do to our identity?! Did we have to clean up our lives to be called a child of God? No. Jesus’ death gave us this. Do we have to clean up our mess now in order to be intimate with Jesus? No. He wants us to come just as we are. God is a good dad. He IS a perfect dad. He is a kind, safe, strong, providing, listening dad. Our Heavenly Father wants to hold us, comfort us, strengthen us, and send us out to do his will.
Jesus was so trusting of the Father. Jesus did and said what He saw His Father say and do, even to the point of doing crazy things like spitting on the ground, mixing his spit with mud, and putting it on a blind guy’s eyes. He let a sinful woman wash his feet with oil and tears, not worrying about his reputation but receiving her love because he was so connected to the Father’s heart. Jesus often withdrew to a quiet place just so he could get alone with his Father. God wants US to have this kind of relationship with him too. WE are God’s children and WE are the visible image of Jesus to those around us. YOUR DADDY IS FATHER GOD!
I encourage you to listen to the song The Anthem (all 10 minutes of it) by Jake Hamilton. As you do, ask the Father to show you that HE is YOUR good daddy! Ask him to help you forgive your earthly father if you need to. Ask him to show you who you are as HIS daughter or son.
