I sat down in my sturdy chair and flipped open the pages of the week’s recovery lesson. “How has the view of your earthly father impacted the view of your heavenly father and how has that view shaped your life?” With a quizzical expression plastered on my face, I questioned how the two could possibly be related. I struggled with this for a while allowing God to use this question to probe and sift through the clutter in my heart. After wrestling through tough questions, acknowledging the pain divorce and distance can cause, and expressing my true, messy feelings God brought my heart and mind to a new place. As God replaced my heart of stone with a heart of flesh, this freshly beating heart began to birth something beautiful from the ashes of my life. I discovered I have a perfect father in heaven and any father on earth will always fall short despite their deepest efforts. I came to a moment of revelation – God has blessed me with two dads on earth. Before encountering God’s grace, that is not something I would have said or believed, but God revealed to me that my dads have always loved me the best way they knew how and perfect love can only be found in Christ.
I have a dad who dropped everything to transform his back into a bridge between two beds for me to clamber across.
I have a dad who coached my basketball games in elementary school, teaching me the lesson in focusing on fairness over favoritism.
I have a dad who encouraged my dreams as a child when I wanted to be a scientist he made sure I had a microscope on the off chance I was the next person to discover how to cure a rare disease.
I have a dad who I could whip up our top secret margaritas to enjoy as we cry over the painful parts of life yet laugh at the good times we’ve been given.
I have a dad who encouraged family game night as we sipped our cans of RC.
I have a dad who endured training for a half-marathon to fulfill the promise we made each other to finish a race together. We strolled across the finish line with our hands united and lifted high.
I have a dad who would chase us across the grassy yard on the farm with a water hose, cackling with laughter when he would bend the hose to stop the flow of water and then release it when we peered down to detect the problem.
I have a dad that willingly chose to take on the perilous adventure of teaching a teenager to drive. I’ll never forget his voice nervously blurting out “Punch it!” as I attempted to merge onto the highway.
I have a dad who bought me one of the best birthday presents ever, my very own farm dog to run around the cornfields with on those breezy, summer days
I have a dad who would give any emergency response team a run for their money with the way he comes to my rescue at any sign of car failure or house problems.
I had a dad who always took us for root beer floats after softballs games and doled out fudge pops on the porch before watching us dart off to catch fireflies.
I have a dad who overcame his fear of flying and travelled halfway around the world to walk me down the aisle and give me away on my wedding day.
I have dads that have sacrificed countless hours, precious sleep, head full of hair, sums of money and sanity to ensure their baby girl is protected and provided for. I am blessed to have two dads that love me with a fruitfully flawed love. God took my tarnished view of seeing divorce as the dividing factor in my family and showed me the beauty I had not seen before of embracing double dads. I thank God for an abundance on Father’s Day!