Apostle's Creed, #3

"I believe in God, the Father Almighty,"

When I think of the word “Father,” I have so many images that flood my mind. My own dad, and my memories of him as I grew up. I remember going camping with my family and how Dad led in the fun. I remember Dad playing ball with my brothers and I, hitting the ball to us as we played 500. Reading to us. Dad worked hard and planned for our family’s provisions.

I have memories of him correcting us, as well. Dad was stern, concerned with the kind of people his kids would turn out to be. He wanted us to be good. And when I say ‘good,’ I don’t mean that we weren’t annoying, but he wanted us to have good characters. I remember one incident of Dad’s wrath that illustrates this. When I was young, I had apparently heard someone use the word “nigger,” and not knowing what it meant, I made the mistake of repeating it in Dad’s presence. Well, as the saying goes, Dad went ballistic, and while I didn’t get a wholloping, I got one of the severest talking-to’s I ever got in my life. But his concern to my character stills shines through that incident.

And my Dad modelled God the Father for me. He gives to us the best life we have. We are in the care of a God who loves us as His sons and daughters. Just as I can look back over my life and see that plans that Dad carried out for us, for our good, I can see the same from the hand of God.

Dads, we have an awesome responsibility. What our children will think of God as father will be molded by how they perceive us as fathers.