Father Abraham

I haven't had a lot of time to blog lately; and if I had, many of the entries would be about the thousands of miles we have traveled, hundreds of restaurant meals, dozens of different beds, and visiting churches that are involved in or interested in our ministry in Ecuador.

One recent highlight for me was the arrival of our daughter Amanda and grandson Ioan from Korea. I hadn't met Ioan yet, and I was thrilled to hold him for the first time and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him. He has a great personality, is easily amused, smiles and laughs at people, and only gets mad when the food bowl is empty, the bottle runs dry, or someone else has ice cream and doesn't share it with him!

Father's Day was neat in that I was with my wonderful wife Joy, daughters Amanda and Ashley, son Teddy, and grandson Ioan. My other daughter Lexi is busy studying and working in Kansas, but I heard from her by telephone. God has been very, very good to me!

I was thinking about something Saturday night that really made an impact on my heart. The biblical story of Abraham begins with him being called Abram, which, I have learned, means exalted father. Later, he is called Abraham, meaning father of multitudes. How ironic that a man with such names arrived at old age without children! Introductions must have been somewhat awkward:
"Hi, I'm Exalted Father."
"Oh, really? Nice to meet you. How many kids do you have?"
"Er, none, at the moment."
It probably caused him more discomfort when he switched to Father of Multitudes. I can imagine his mumbling and sheepish expression. I believe that he was often reminded of God's promises, and only through the eye of faith could he embrace the people called Israel and the huge of family of faith of which he eventually became the Patriarch. His grasp of God's promises makes him the head of a multi-generational, multicultural household of faith through Jesus by whom God has indeed blessed all people, and made Abraham's descendants like the stars of heaven in number.
I trust that he had a wonderful Father's Day too.