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I saw a story on French television of a man 65 year old French man named Michel who had recently found his father. The father, William, was an American soldier in World War II who came through the city of Sainte Marie aux Mines in World War II during the Allies drive toward Germany.

His unit stayed in Sainte Marie for awhile and the father began a relationship with a young French lady. When William’s outfit pulled out a few weeks later the young lady was pregnant. The soldier probably never knew it. She didn’t have his address. All she knew was his name.

Nine months later Michel came into the world. At the age of five, he began to feel something missing and this gnawing in his insides followed him all through his life. If he did something, he would say to himself, “If my father had been here …” or “If my father had known about this …”

“I had to find him.” He never found a trace of him though, not until after 60 years of searching.

Recently, a French lady who lives in Florida was vacationing in France and heard about him through a local newspaper article. His story touched her. She launched a personal crusade looking for the missing former soldier, a tiny needle in the haystack of 300,000,000 residents of the United States. If he was still alive.

And she found him in Houston, Texas!

The elderly father was in a wheel chair but his mind was solid. Michel also had a brother and a sister he had never known. When he heard about it, he was shaken to the core of his being. He had a hard time sleeping and would get up at night and walk around the house and think.

A few days later, he boarded a plane heading for Houston.

When they finally met, they wrapped their arms around each other and cried for quite awhile. “To take my father in my arms was the most beautiful day of my life,” Michel says. “I’m satisfied. I have a father. I found him.”

Something in us needs a father. We need his strength, his love. We need his connection with all those of our line who’ve lived before us. There are over 1500 references to “father(s)” in the Bible.

This need for an earthly father mirrors a need that God has put into each of us for a Heavenly Father. Only this time it’s the Father who is looking for his children. He is, “A father to the fatherless …”  (Psalms 68 :5). He sent His Son Jesus to seek and to save those who are lost and bring them to Himself so that He could save them and they could call him, “Abba, Father.”

While the concept of God as Father isn’t completely foreign to the Old Testament, it’s the Son Himself, Jesus, who constantly refers to God as “Father.” And wonder of wonders, we discover that’s the relationship that He’s brought us into.

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. ” (Rom. 8:14-17, NIV).

“Father!”

Maybe you’ve drifted away from the Father. Be smart, like one rebellious young fellow who said to himself one day,

“I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” (NIV)

We need the Father.
_____________________________
Hmmm …
Be careful from whom you get your advice.

Make sure they are where you want to go
or at least headed there.

For sooner or later, their advice will take you where they are.

Make sure you want to go there.
~A MountainWings Original~