The Father’s Love By Jeff Dyer One night in early January of this year my wife, daughter and I decided to go out one night after work to do some shopping. We went to one of those large "superstores" You know the ones, with rows and rows of shelves and shelves of everything you could every possibility want to buy. The store had a grocery section, video store, clothing, household goods, and a lawn center, a vision center and even bank.
Even in Virginia, as it was January it was cold and the sun went down early so it was dark. But we were a family together and we were feeling good. My wife was feeling really good because she had found, just after we came into the store, a reprint of a picture that she remembered her mother and grandmother having. Now she could have a copy of the print and pass on the stories to her daughter.
As we wandered through the store we stopped and looked at anything that caught our eye. We were in no hurry. Oh the distractions. There were clothes to look at for our daughter, curtains for the kitchen window over the sink and I saw a rug like the one that my Mom used to have in her kitchen. The store was using a better brand of "music" over the public address system, the lights were bright and the store was full of people doing the traditional after Christmas sale shopping. It was easy to get lost in the shopping experience.
As we were browsing though the tightly packed rows of rows I stopped to look at some replacement light bulbs for the hallway light fixture. When we built our house we had picked out some really nice light fixtures but the bulbs were hard to find, but here they were. I didn’t know that stopping for those bulbs would make me love my family even more.
So I checked, like all good husbands and dad's do, to make sure that it was the right replacement and that the price was within reason. As I turned my back to my wife and daughter I saw them turning up the row of merchandise that had the curtains that my wife wanted for the kitchen. Just moments later I head my wife call out my name. You know husbands. The way that a wife calls to her husband to make sure that he has not gotten lost and to get his attention. I called back to her, "Over here." And I waited.
As I was waiting I put the appropriate replacement bulbs in the shopping basket and turned expecting to see my wife and daughter approaching. But they weren’t there. So I turned up the row I expected them to be in. They weren’t there. So I weren’t to the next row. They weren’t there. So I weren’t to the next row. They weren’t there either. So putting all my manly pride aside, I called out my wife’s name. No answer. Now I was letting my feelings get the better of me and I was getting annoyed. So I called out her name again, a little louder this time. Still, no answer. I called out my daughter’s name. Again, no answer and I was more annoyed.
I remembered that my wife had wanted to look at some items in the crafts section which was adjacent to the house wares section. So pushing my shopping cart with her purse and all the coats in it I went over to the crafts section. They weren’t there. Now the annoyed feeling was turning into something else. Fear. Where could they be? I hurried back to the house wares section and without much regard to the others shoppers who were in my way rushed up one row and down the next. I did this until I had searched out the entire house wares section and wound up back at the place were this had all started, at the shelves of lights bulbs. I just stood there not wanting to leave the area where I had last seen my family. The sense of fear was growing. What could have happened? The worst possible thoughts began to run though my mind. Had they been abducted? What threat could have made my wife leave the store? I can not truly write the fears that were going through my mind. I know what kind of evil lives in this world. I know what can happen in just seconds. We have all watched the evening news and thought as we watched, "How tragic, at least my family is OK., It didn’t happen here to us". Now I wasn’t so sure. Who could I turn to for help. Would the stores security cameras show my wife and daughter being lead from the store by someone with evil in their heart? When I saw that video tape would fear be the last thing I saw on the faces of my wife and daughter. Who could I turn to for help. Where was store security? Were there off duty police officers working the store?
Then something unexpected happened. The fear I had been felling began to turn into something else. A sense of profound loss. I began to visualize my life without my wife and daughter. It was more than I could bear. My heart was breaking.
It was then that I began to pray. The words don’t really matter. I called out to the Lord to protect and save my family. I asked Him to protect them and restore them to me.
The prayer helped, some. I still needed to find my family. Thinking that they may not have left the store I hurried from the back of the store where the house wares section was to the front of the store. Everywhere I looked, people. But none of them my family. I went over by the bathrooms but didn’t see them. There were exits at both ends of the store, with about 30 check outs in between. There was no way I cold watch both sets of exits at the same time. Who could I turn to for help? What could I do? Maybe I missed them back in house wares or in the crafts section. Yes, that must be it! After all, I hadn’t really checked the crafts areas that well. So back to the rear I went and searched the craft area. No family. Now I began to panic and the guilt began to set in. Why hadn’t I stayed with them? It’s my family, my responsibility. It’s my fault!
Not knowing what to do and knowing now that they were not in the back of the store, I started back to the front. Slower this time. Uncertain of my next move. Fearful. Alone, pushing that stupid shopping cart.
Then, I saw them. Safe. Still happy. Mother and daughter walking back together coming from the front of the store. My family was reunited. We were together. My fear and guilt all gone. My joy was back. But what had happened? Well, my four year old daughter had indeed needed to go to the bathroom. When my wife had called out my name, it was at the end of the sentence where she told me that she was taking our daughter to go to the bathroom. I had not heard her speak to me as I was too busy checking out light bulbs.
But, there was a good side to all this. It helped me remember how much I love my family. It helped me remember how important my family is in my life. It helped me to know what my life would be like without them. And It got me thinking about a father’s love for his family.
I, the father had turned my back and allowed my family to go a different direction. I had not heard as they called out to me. What God had done was to give me an example of how He must feel when we turn our backs and do not hear Him. It gave me a sense of how He must feel when we are not part of His kingdom. The grief He must feel when we His children are apart from Him.
In the Scriptures we read from the Book of John: 1 John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: God has called us to Him. Through his Son we all may have everlasting life (John 3:15). Is God calling out to you? Are you listening for His voice in your life? Have you turned and gone your own way? Are you lost? God loves you. No matter where you have been when you come back to Him there is great joy. Give God the Glory! Visit Jeff at "In His Service"
|
