RUNNING
FOR DADDY

Topics: Acceptance; God as Father; Grace; Love

References: Romans 8:15–16; 15:7; 1 Corinthians 1:26–31; 13:7–8; Colossians 1:21–22; Hebrews 4:14–16; 1 John 1:3–9

My twenty-one-month-old, who had just learned to say, “Daddy,” had been struggling with asthma and an ear infection for two weeks. He coughed and sneezed continually, and his nose ran like a faucet. Each night when I came home, he ran to meet me at the door, smiling, coughing, nose running, yelling, “Daddy! Daddy!”

I was not repulsed by his runny nose or close-range sneezes in the least (he “slimed” every shirt I own!). I love him deeply and enjoy his love for me.

It does remind me, though, that when I am sick with sin, God loves me deeply and desires that I run to him as a son, crying, “Abba, Father.”

—David Slagle, Lawrenceville, Georgia