Father #1, or as I like to call him, Dad!
Sometimes when I call Dad, I say, “Hey! It’s your favorite daughter!” And he replies, “Oh… hey there, Jen!”
He always makes me laugh, that guy!
I love his dry sense of humor. I love that he always tells me he loves me before we end our conversation. I love that he prays for me every night. Most of all, I love that he hung in with us, me and Jen (the favorite daughter), when we were pre-teens. He stayed. He became mom and dad. He made (or ordered…God bless Pizza Hut) dinner every night. How many frozen veal cutlets did we heat up?! He sat and patiently watched with us as we caught up on “Days of our Lives” on the family VCR. (Although I think that he secretly became a soap fan.). He took me to the mall. (New clothes=teenage survival).
He drove me to look at colleges, all the while waxing eloquently about the wisdom of staying close to home. He welcomed me back on short breaks from school, and he supported me as I mission-tripped every summer. All these years later, I still miss riding in the car with him and listening to all that wonderful-yet-unsolicited advice. He is a great dad.
Father #2, or as I like to call Him, Lord.
God is the second Father I met in my life, although theologically speaking, he was there long before the first one was! He took care of me since I was a little girl. He no doubt saved my life on many occasions, some I probably don’t even know about. He reached out to me when I wasn’t even looking for Him. He has shown himself to me in a thousand ways on ten thousand days. I love all that He says to me. (Okay people, don’t get freaked out here…I am referring to the Bible, not an audible voice.). I could go on, but there are not enough words to give him enough credit.
Father #3, or as I like to call him, Babe!
Okay, okay, I know he is not MY father, but y’all, no Father’s Day tribute would be complete without me calling out the glory of my Hot Babe. This man is simply amazing. He was born to be a dad. He could teach a class on it. He could do a documentary. My kids have no idea how blessed they are. They don’t know that most kids don’t get taken on dates with daddy, don’t get ice cream and bowling every weekend, don’t get told, “I love you” all day long. My husband works his tail off (cute little tail) to give a beautiful home and life to me and our four kids. Let’s just say, he has a very happy wife. No doubt, the fruit of his fathering will be seen in future days…his children will love the Lord and will raise up a generation of God-worshippers…Babe’s daily prayer for them. So, even though he is not MY father, I feel blessed just to watch this man in action. It just doesn’t get better than him. He loves his people well.
Happy Father’s Day to all you dads who read this, because, no doubt, you love your people too, and they too are blessed.