His Heart, My Home

I was just a little guy, not quite 3 years old. There had been several days of heavy spring rains in my hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, and I had gone with my Dad and Grandpa to the Lakeshore Drive area to see the flash-flood waters that had overflowed our favorite fishing spot on Cross Lake.

Venturing too close to the water’s edge, I slipped on the wet vegetation covering the steep bank, and fell into the swollen bayou waters rushing below.

I don’t recall much of what happened next. I remember the dark murky water, the feeling of fear and panic, and the sensation of choking, as I fought to get air into my lungs.

My Dad hadn’t seen me fall in, but heard the “kerplump” and saw the splash where I had entered the water.

Without hesitation, he jumped into the rapidly flowing water where he believed I had fallen, and plunged beneath the surface of the muddy waters as he sought me. Grandpa helped as much as he could, shouting frantically to my Dad where he thought I might be.

It was only a few seconds later that my Dad found me, pulled me out of the water, and brought me to the safety of the shore.

Dad told the story several times through the years. He would say, “Son, I thought I had lost you. And I held on to you for dear life as we stood back on the edge of that lake. You were soaking wet, and cold, and shaking like a leaf. You had your arms wrapped as tightly as you could around me. And in between spitting sputtering, and coughing you kept saying over and over again, ‘I love you, Daddy-Boy! I love you!’ “

My Dad has since gone home to be with the Lord. But whenever I think of him, I think of those words, which overflowed that day from the passionate gratitude of my little boy heart… “I love you, Daddy-Boy! I love you!”

If your dad is still alive, text him, call him, or go see him TODAY to say, “Dad, I love you!”

My Dad was my hero that day… the one who saved me from almost certain drowning and death. But the truth is this: earthly fathers, though often heroic, are still frail, flawed, faulty, and failure-prone.

Fathers are “wannabe-heroes” who at times turn out to be “unintentional-zeroes”.

We aspire to be interstellar spaceships, taking our children on adventures to the edge of the universe, but we soon discover we can barely achieve paper-airplane flight status.

We are Superman… but a Superman who is weakened and defeated by the presence of kryptonite.

We are Peter… walking in bold faith on the storm-tossed waves of Galilee’s Sea one minute, and sinking in fearful panic the next.

Maybe you had a wonderful dad and have many happy memories, sprinkled with a few not-so-great ones. Thank God for the legacy he left you.

Maybe your dad was unkind and uncaring and left you hurting, with scars on your soul. May the Lord heal your deepest wounds.

Maybe your dad was a stranger to you, someone who walked away a long time ago leaving an aching void in your heart. Please forgive him and let God fill that empty spot in you with His love.

Maybe you’ve lost your earthly dad and really miss the relationship you had with him. May he live forever in your heart.

Or maybe, even probably, you’re trying your best be a good dad to your children, but are sometimes plagued with feelings of inadequacy, failure, and guilt. Receive God’s grace and keep on loving your family with His love.

No matter what your experience with your earthly father was, or is, or what kind of father you yourself have been up to now, there is good news, great news, wonderful news for us all.

We have a Champion, a Savior, a Hero, who plunged into the ice-cold, dark waters of physical suffering and spiritual death to rescue us. He kept us from drowning in the depths of the awful ocean of sin and death. 

He pulled us ashore, and breathed new life into us, as He embraced us in His loving arms. Now, He will never let go of us!

“The eternal God is  your  refuge, and under- neath are the everlasting arms … (Deuteronomy 33:27)

God passionately embraces us as His children. His arms are always “underneath” us. That means that we can never sink so low that His arms cannot reach us.

● Dark addictions? His Word is near you!
● Backsliden? His arms are open wide!
● Terminal illness? Your miracle is at hand!

He will never lose us. In the darkest depths of our hopelessness and despair He is there! His arms will ever be beneath us!

“When you pass through the deep, stormy sea, you can count on me to be there with you. When you pass through raging rivers, you will not drown.” (Isaiah 43:2, Passion Translation)

“When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end …That’s how much you mean to me! That’s how much I love you! I’d sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you.” (Isaiah 43:2,4, Message)

God says it this way in the New Covenant:

“… He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] (Hebrews 13:5 Amplified Classic Bible)

The original text expresses the certainty of God’s commitment to us through the use of a triple negative in the Greek manuscript. The Amplified Bible correctly translates this as, “[I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not…”

Years ago, as I was studying this verse, I asked Holy Spirit why the scripture repeated the phrase “I will not” three times. And in a lightning flash of revelation I understood it.

God, the Father said, “I will not leave you, nor forsake you.” That’s one!

Jesus, the Son of God, said, “I will not leave you, nor forsake you.” That’s two!

And Holy Spirit said, “I will not leave you, nor forsake you.” And that’s three!

We have the absolute assurance and the triple guarantee that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, will never leave us nor forsake us!

He faithfully carries and sustains us from the days of our childhood (see Isaiah 40:11) even to our old age (see Isaiah 46:4).

Now notice again in the Amplified Bible the phrase, “(I will not) relax my hold on you, assuredly not!”

That tells me that when I have wrapped my arms around Abba-Father, and am holding on to Him with all my strength, even when I begin to feel my weary arms slipping, I need not fear!

“Don’t panic. I’m with you. There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.” (Isaiah 41:10, The Message)

I’m holding Him in simple child-like faith and gratitude, but it’s not my grip on Him that keeps me from falling.

He is holding me! I will not slip, because He will never relax His hold on me! I will not fall, because nothing can separate me from His love! Nothing! Between us! Forever!

“… absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” (Romans 8:39, The Message)

We are not a leaf on life’s wild sea – tossed and driven at the mercy of wind and wave. We are kept safe by the strength of His mighty arms, forever secure because of the loving faithfulness of our eternally unchanging Father!

We can never sink nor drown in any flood. No power in the universe can snatch us out of His hands. Neither death nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, can separate us from His love!

Forever held in His loving arms, what can we say, but, “I love you, Daddy-Boy! I love you!”