An Elevated View of a Father’s Love

(ROCKWALL, TX — June 4, 2018) The feeling of independence was a heady thing for me on the day I drove my own car back to college for the first time. Two hours into the journey, I left both the freeway and the summer heat behind as I headed into the cooler elevation of the Ozark Mountains. I turned off the air conditioning and lowered my window for added exhilaration. And then, hearing a strange sound, I panicked.

My little blue Ford had begun to gasp and now seemed to be losing steam with each breath. What timing! The shoulder-less road featured hairpin turns that prevented pulling off any time soon. And I had many miles of mountains still ahead.

On that day—long before cell phones existed—I reacted with one desperate thought: If only Dad were here!

I instantly disliked being on my own. My father would know both the problem and the solution, but he was 150 miles away. Tears filled my eyes before another thought occurred to me. I had another, more available, Father.

In those days I was all about Jesus, my Savior. I’d known him for nearly a year and shared the Good News with everyone around me. But in all my first-love passion I hadn’t fully appreciated gaining a bona fide relationship with a loving Father in heaven.

The Apostle John wrote that God’s love for mankind caused the Father to give his only Son, so that whoever believed would have eternal life (John 3:16). And because of this, our fellowship is with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3).

The Apostle Paul explained that we are reconciled to God through the death of his Son (Romans 5:10), and that from the day of our salvation God declares, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters” (2 Cor. 6:2, 18).

I truly appreciated this reconciliation, but—maybe because I still had parents to support me—I hadn’t yet needed to implore my heavenly Father for help. Even so, the words of Jesus assured me I could.

On the day Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, “Our Father in heaven…,” he further said not to worry, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26).

Jesus encouraged his followers, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you…. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:7, 9).

My father back at home would not have ignored my cry for help. I needed to trust that my Father in heaven wouldn’t either.

In a voice loud enough to compete with my car’s coughing sounds, I began to ask God to get me safely through the mountains. Very soon—immediately, as I recall—the engine seemed normal again, breathing easy!

I made the rest of those hairpin turns with a heightened sense of wonder: The Creator of the mountains had stooped low enough to answer the plea of a needy traveler.

As I emerged from the hills to the first town below, my car’s engine trouble suddenly returned—this time in view of a gas station.

“I just needed to adjust the valve on your carburetor for these altitudes,” the attendant said. “You should be all taken care of now.”

And indeed, I was.

By Blue Ribbon News faith columnist Patti Richter. Patti lives in Heath with her husband, Jim. She writes and edits Christian faith articles for several publications. Read more of her essays at BlueRibbonNews.com.

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