Finding DadSample

When I was a kid, my name was synonymous with two things – trouble and more trouble.  I spent so much time in the principal’s office, he nicknamed one of his plants after me.  He said he saw two things grow up in his office every day, the tropical ferns and Luke Cunningham.

I wanted to be a good kid, but the pain and anger I felt in my heart towards my dad was being expressed in complete self-destruction.  One night in my teen years, I remember arriving home at 1:00 a.m. to my mother troubled on the couch.  She handed me a cassette tape and asked if I would listen.  I casually tossed it onto my bed and tried to fall asleep, but the pain on my mother’s face kept me awake.  I got up, put the cassette in the player (save your old man jokes for the next guy), and started listening to the gospel being presented as Jesus fulfilling the Father to the fatherless.

I’ll never forget it as long as I live – my eyes welled up with tears, I rewound the tape, played it again, knelt over my bed with my hands folded, and invited a new Father into my heart.  Salvation for me was spiritual adoption.  As I embraced Jesus as Father, all the hurt, pain, resentment, anger, and confusion slowly began to fade away.  I became obsessed with reading Scripture.  I wanted to know more about my dad!

You need to realize you have a dad today.  He may not be your earthly father.  You still might have to attend father/daughter dances with a family friend.  Your brother may still be walking you down the aisle.  But the pain, hurt, abandonment, and anger don’t have to exist in your heart anymore.  Jesus has come to heal those wounds.

Trusting your heart with Christ is the only way to deal with daddy issues because He’s the only one that adopts us all!  In Christ, we are sons and daughters.  All of us.  What was lost is found.  What was broken is restored.  What was rejected is redeemed.

Then along the way, something beautiful begins to happen.  You become more like Him.  Grace breaks the grudge.  Worship supersedes wrath.  The heart of hurt turns into a heart healed by hope.  You might not have the dad you long for, but you have a Heavenly Father that makes up for it.  Embrace Him today.