Skip to main content

That's My Father

But while he was still a long way off,  Luke 11:20


"But while he was still a long way off,"  

 this phrase has been running through my head today.

 It's in the parable of the prodigal son.

 When the son decides to go home, 

 The father who has been longing for the day

 his son would return home,

 sees him coming down the road.

 He was dirty, hungry, and worn out

 from the life, he had been living.

 In the midst of this, is the phrase

 "But while he was still a long way off,"

 It paints a picture of love,

 of forgiveness,

 of mercy.

 The son had not arrived home.

 I get the picture of each of us

 when we start seeking Christ.

 Unworthy,

 stripped bare,

 showing the scars that this world has left on us.

 Limping dejectedly home

 knowing we deserve nothing.

 But I also see the Father not waiting till

 we are home and cleaned up

 relaxing in a chair to come to us.

 instead, he is so excited to see us 

 that he drops everything and comes

 running to meet us,

 putting his clothes on us

 not caring about where we had been

 only caring that we had come home.

 That's my father!









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Live Fearlessly

                                   As I was driving home today, I passed a person walking on the side of the    road.  Since it was cold, and snowy, I thought I should stop and offer the person a ride.  As I drove on by, I was irritated with myself for not stopping.  I could have and should have but I didn't. Why?  I was scared! Maybe that wouldn't bother you, but I'm willing to bet there are things that make you afraid.  It may be snakes or spiders that send the ticker into  overdrive.  Or maybe it's your job and finances that keep you up at night when you should be resting.  Then again perhaps it's relationships that consume your thoughts and energy.  As followers of God, we know that we are told not to be afraid.  Yet we often are afraid despite everything we know.   As I was driving away from a misse...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tragedy: A Christian Response

I want to start by telling you a story.  We were new parents.  When Our oldest, a son, was about eighteen to twenty months we had another baby, a girl with brown hair and huge eyes.   One day as I went to feed her, my son who may have been two at the time wandered off to another part of the house.  The next thing I heard was a thud.  I grabbed my baby girl and ran to see what happened.  There was my son with a table on top of him.  He had pulled it over on himself and more blood than I had ever seen was running all over.   We put him in the car and dashed for the ER.  It was not a fun trip. He had a skull fracture and many stitches.  Fast forward about fourteen or fifteen years, I’m at a stop light and watch my youngest daughter about ten start across a street on a bike start across a street just as a truck comes around a corner into the path of the bike.  She hit the side of the truck and bounced onto the road....
Post a Comment
Read more

Just A Word of Praise!!

  On Sunday, after church, we went to a town about thirty minutes away.   On the way we drove through an area where they were working on the road.  It was no big deal.  We had lunch, bought some food for the week, and drove back home.    Later, as we were on our way to church for the evening service, I heard the ominous flapping sound that a tire makes when it’s flat.  Yikes!  I pulled over and while I was debating how I was going to change a tire.  A car coming in the opposite direction drove by and stopped.   As the driver appeared from the vehicle, I recognized him as a neighbor and fellow believer.  He approached the car, and asked if I had an air compressor to inflate the tire.  My answer, “Yes, but I’m not sure how good it is.  I’ve never actually managed to inflate a tire using it. I may not be using it properly.”   I produced it from the trunk of the car and handed it to him.  Within...
Post a Comment
Read more