"Mother's Day" started first in the church. Then, "Father's Day" followed.

The other day, I happened to see a certain sign set up alongside the street. It was saying "It's easy to become a father, but difficult to BE a father." Take a look now at Ep.6:2 -- here it says that we are to love, respect and wait on our parents. But, how can we be a parent (father/mother) that is respected by children? Read Ep.5:18,22. The bible always tells us how to be so..

"The greatest thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother." This is what a well-used English pastor once said to parents wishing to know how to raise God's children. This pastor was well-used in Kyoto for over 30 years, and had a special burden for children.

I, myself, don't really think that I did such a good job in raising my children -- no, rather, I think I am a failure. I just don't remember what my children were doing while my wife and I were leading Sunday worships. At one time, one of my neighbours found my youngest son fallen in a small stream and took him to us. We were such parents!

To raise children is something. More over in this kind of complicated age, I know even a Christian family finds it a difficult job. We are to raise children so that they can walk on their own feet in a world that is full of temptations and difficulties. Lots of the holy verses found in Proverbs have been occurring to me lately. I should have gone back to them when I was raising my children -- I remember the story of the lost son:

As you know, the father in that story represents our Heavenly Father. And, we are the younger son. With our own will, we left all of the blessings our Father had given us, throwing ourselves into a world where Satan reigns. Instead of pushing us back to that evil world, or refusing us, our Heavenly Father warmly welcomes us back -- we who left him.

This is my imagination; probably after the son left him, the father started to feel anxious. He must have suffered a great deal over his lost son. Maybe he had a chance to hear about him being badly in need, or maybe not. But anyways, he waited and waited for his son to come back. With his power and wealth, he could have gone after him and brought him back home again. But he did not -- I find in him the true character of a father. And, I see how much different I am. I also remember a similar story in that of Adam and Eve; when they first rejected God. God continued asking, "Where are you? Where are you?" He had been searching for us, the lost people, when He Himself descended into this world. Here, we can find the true love of God.

1 Ti.2:4-6. This is what God longs for..

1 Ti.1:15. Our Heavenly Father desires everyone to be saved, which is what we all desire for our families.

1 Ti.2:8. This is what fathers are to do..

We, Christians, already share in the blessing of being able to call God, our Heavenly Father, "Abba, father" or "Papa". He wants us to be close to Him. He wants us to call Him "Papa" and talk to Him.

A certain pastor once encountered a successful businessman in a restaurant. Unfortunately, he had such a cold family that no one in his family called him "father" or "papa" -- How sad it is for fathers not to be called "Dad". We do have a Heavenly Father whom we can call Dad and who wants us to call Him so.

Translated by Junko Okamoto - Edited for the Net by Shido
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