Choosing to be a Dad

~1 Corinthians 13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.~

This blog is a little different from the others. I only type what I feel led to type and this is it for today. If you have or are a step parent you may appreciate this one :)

With fathers day approaching I have a lot on my mind. I get a little emotional around Fathers Day because I am so blessed. My Dad made a choice 30 something years ago to be my Dad. I am not his by birth, but the fact that he actually chose me is just now hitting me. I always knew he loved me, but I never thought about how hard the decision to marry a woman with 2 kids was. My own Father was never really part of my life by his own choice. The Lord blessed me in that I never really dwelled on that though. I was just so thankful and so fulfilled by the Dad he sent me and I still am.
Without that choice my kids would have no grandfather, without that choice I would in no way be who I am today. My parents work together, they make each other better which makes them the best parents and role models any kid could have. Thank God my kids get to see that!
When I think about that kind of love it blows me away. When your own child is born you instantly love them because they are yours and you have waited 9 long months for them! When a step parent chooses to love a child like their own that is beyond me. To love another man's child and raise her to love the Lord is the most honorable thing I think of.
That kind of sacrifice reminds me of the lyrics of a song I love, "The proof of Your Love" by for King and Country:
So let my life be the proof the proof of your love.
Let my love look like you and what you're made of.
How you lived, how you died. Love is sacrifice.
So let my life be the proof,
Today those lyrics remind me of all the parents who make choices to love a child that is not biologically theirs. That kind of love is not natural, it defies everything society teaches and proves what God can do. I do make it a habit to pray that my life will somehow be the proof of Gods love to someone else, and this song fits that prayer perfectly. My Dad's choice is certainly proof of Gods love.
As Christians we are called to love people, all people. Not because something may possibly be gained by our love, but to love because that's how we were designed. Read that verse again in 1 Corinthians 13, WOW. No matter what we do in this life we are literally NOTHING if we don't love. It doesn't matter if we are missionaries, food pantry volunteers, compassion child sponsors, foster parents, none of that. None of that matters if we don't love. I don't think this stands true for family and friends those people are easy and natural to love. I think this speaks of strangers and those who are hard to love (I know you want to break out singing that country song now, go ahead...Hard to love, hard to love no I don't make it easy...), I think this means that we are to SHOW our love and not just preach it. When Christ comes back for me I hope he finds me taking out someone's trash for them.
As you celebrate Fathers Day this year look back at all the love your Dad showed you, all the wisdom he showed, all the things he did for you that he never had to do. He did it because he loves you and we should do things for others because that's what our Father God and our Dad's taught us !