i don’t think a call on father’s day did you justice, dad. i needed to put something in writing. as i was sitting studying today, this picture popped up on my screen. first, it’s really cute. second, your hand is in it, reaching something out to me. dad, i really like what you do with your hands. i always like your hugs, especially since i don’t get many long hugs anymore. i remember your hands being all greasy from working out on the van in minus-degree weather on sviaborgskaya. i can see your hands typing and programming. i have a picture in my mind of your hands holding a pen over your journal, as you let the Spirit speak through your writing hand. what really jumped out to me in this picture was that you were handing me something… and I’ve been thinking this week about how God, my Father, gives to me. and how your teaching me and training me through the years has paralleled. you’ve trained me to take what you give me to do, with obedience. so i know that anything you hand me, i can trust. the most relevant, nearby example of that is your having me come back to the states to finish school. i really didn’t want to. but you stood by me as i abstractly applied to nursing schools, not knowing really where it was headed. and even though i wanted more than ever to stay in israel at the time… you pushed me to do this. i took it, i went with it, and i’m learning a lot in my experience here… i know there’s no other place i should be right now. obedience was freeing: i’m not bound by a new culture right now, i stepped back into one that (though i still dont’ feel is my own) i am familiar enough to enjoy and be independent. this translates into being obedient to whatever the Father hands me to do or be. i may not think i want it, but i obey, and experience freedom in obeying His ‘rules’. it works conversely, also… i can ask Him for anything, and trust him that he will give me what is good for me; if i ask for bread, he won’t give me a snake and not a rock. but He might say no…and give me protein instead (ha! ;) daily, i realize it’s so much easier to go through life when I’ve had a dad to show me how things play out in the physical aspects, before having to trust the spiritual father. i really love my dad.
