• http://lockwoodchurch.org/media (Listening time: 26:47)

My wife Karen became a mom before I became a dad. At least, our awareness of parenthood happened at different times. She became a mom on the day she learned she was carrying a child. I didn’t become a dad until our son Joel made his grand entrance into the world.

It is strange to look back on. Karen and I had been married for a little over three years. It was just the two of us: apartment hunting, getting jobs, losing jobs, changing housing, and pastoring a small church. It was just the two of us, and I loved that. Then suddenly – three weeks before Karen’s due date – it was the three of us.

One moment I was not a dad, the next moment I was and everything had changed. From the moment that little boy was born, I was connected to him. I would willingly die for him. His wellbeing was more important to me than my own.

I am father to three sons, and I still feel about them the way I felt then. I want their best, intend their best, and will do what is in my power to help them achieve their best. Though I am a very imperfect father, my love and commitment to them is a reflection – distorted and inaccurate but real, nonetheless – of God’s love and commitment to us. He too is a father. He is the Father.