It has been several weeks since part 2 and since I preached the message on God as Father from our current message series at Rooftop, but I wanted to come back and close out my Father journey. Before I do that, I will share that many, many people commented to me the significance of my message on God as Father, sharing their own hurts and issues related to their father. A person's age was no discriminate either, having 40-60 years olds comment as frequently as 20-40 year olds. The impact of a father, good or bad, is felt for a lifetime and is foundational toward how we view certain aspects of life, ourselves, and especially God who is our Heavenly Father.
My father journey since my dad died has been very colorful. I dated and pursued three different relationships with Christian women my age who all came from strong Christian families with strong fathers. All three relationship attempts failed and it was not until I was in relationship with Julie whose dad had passed away years before and was not in the picture that I finally realized I had actually been "dating dad" with all three women, and not necessarily the women themselves. (I am sure this contributed to the broken pieces of each of those relationships).
There have been men in my life for periods of time who have helped fill in the father role:
Gary Petrous - he was the manager of the newspaper office in Romeo, Michigan when I was delivering papers back in the day. He was energetic, engaging, and a Vietnam Veteran who also loved the University of Michigan. For those of us who worked for him and were closes to him, he felt like Bo Schemblecher training us for life even as we were just delivering papers. He challenged me, influenced me positively for the Marine Corps, shared my love for the Wolverines, and engaged me in significant dialogue. He was not a follower of Jesus last I knew, and had no interest being one. Yet his vision for me and his wisdom gained were an incredible gift for me in my early teenage years.
Terry Vanderwerf - he was the youth pastor at our church up until my senior year when he and his family moved to the mission field in Mexico. I remember spending time with him in high school, just hanging out talking with him, enjoying that time together, even though there was not stated purpose. He always pointed me toward Jesus Christ and again helped fill in the gap in that time.
Ernie Elmore - Once in the Marines and while stationed in Okinawa, Japan, I met Ernie and Bobbie Elmore. He was former Marine who served as a missionary to the military guys in Okinawa. I met him and Bobbie at their home/ministry center and fell in love with them. He discipled me for 4 months while I was there and opened up his life to me in that time. By this age (21) I was realizing my desire to be mentored and welcomed his filling that role for a season. I love Bobbie and Ernie and am thankful for their presence, not only in my life, but also in the lives of hundreds of others as well.
And here I am today, now 34 years old, a father myself of 5 children ages 7 and under and I still would love a mentor/father figure to journey through life with. I haven't had one in a long time, but I will say that my Father in heaven has done well to raise me up, teach me through His Spirit, and show me what a Father is supposed to be. Hopefully I will correct the missed areas from my own dad and leave a very significant and Jesus Christ centered impact on the lives of my children for their life journey.
For those of you who have read these father posts, I would encourage you to reflect on your relationship with your dad and how it may have impacted your relationship with God our Father. Many people cruise through life never becoming aware of the impact their earthly father has had on their earthly life and contributed to the struggles in their relationship with God as a result. I pray for each of you in your journey. May the Holy Spirit reveal Truth to you and draw you closer to our Father, the one true and perfect Father.
