The love of the Father
By Keith Williamson Special to the Sentinel

I was told this morning that my dad is to have a diagnostic heart procedure in a week. In rare cases, complications can occur and the procedure can be fatal. Please pray that all goes well and for his recovery. I want to share the following devotion about our heavenly Father in honor of my dad.

About my faith in God. I want to express a few heartfelt thoughts that may sound simplistic or irreverent. As I continue to develop my relationship with him, I have discovered that God is a nice guy.

I confess that while growing up, I had bought into the concept of God as a stern individual who busily jots down in a book every mistake we make, so that on Judgment Day he can call us up and point to each one, saying, Why did you do this? I know you did this, and then divulge to everybody present the unpraiseworthy actions of our lives.

I have slowly matured, and have experienced God s help in many crises. I have come to realize that God does not want to punish us but, rather, to fulfill our lives. God created us, loves us, and wants to help us to realize our potential so that we can be useful to others.

The relationship that God wants with me became particularly clear to me after Candy and I had children of our own. I realized how much I love my sons and how much I want for them. Of course I want them to be successful, and want to give them everything I can to make them happy. And I realize that God loves me even more than I love my own children.

I cannot give my children everything, but I try to arrange their environment so that they can learn to stand on their own feet, to respect others and to become valuable citizens.

If I lavish everything on them, they will never reach those goals, but as long as my children know that I love them- that I will stand behind them and do everything within my power to assure their success in life, I feel that I have done what I can for them. They will develop confidence in my love for them and will know that I only want good for them.

As I have considered my relationship with my sons, it makes it clear to me that relationship that God wants with me and with all the children he has created in the world.

Found in Men's Devotional Bible, New International Version, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1993). Taken from Think Big by Ben Carson M.D. with Cecil Murphey. Copyright © 1992 by Benjamin Carson M.D. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing Company.