Good News

Dad’s birthday celebration would have been in July. He wouldn’t have wanted anything, though.  He never did.

While growing up, my dad never let me pay for anything. Not a meal, not a tip, not a parking meter, not even the price for him to repair something around my house. There was never a cost that was ever owed to my father.  I often asked when would he ever let me pay.  His response was always the same.

“Your day will come.”

Once my siblings and I surprised Mom and Dad with a trip commemorating their 50th wedding anniversary over a weekend.  And, they went.  And then, they took us back the next year.  And then the next year.  And the year after that.  And the year after that.

He lived to be 87 pulling out his dollar bills.

I’d always have to laugh at him,  “When will my day come, Dad?”

His motive wasn’t rooted in pride.  This was a father who understood the fatigue of finances and durations of difficulty building a business and putting food on the table with six placemats. He understood a candlewick that burned on both ends. He grasped the concept of borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.

With adult children of my own and emerging livelihoods and a number of placemats on their own tables,  I am a witness to their hearts towards sacrificial generosity and magnanimous benevolence.

These are the days that have come.

But you know, it is how the Good News went out.

Living as an example to people who were progressing in faith, Apostle Paul humbled himself by preaching the Good News without expecting anything in return.  He said, “I borrowed from other churches by accepting support from them so I could serve you at no cost.” He understood the degree of help needed to the people he loved.

That’s a message of the Good News.

You have a Father, too.

Try as you might though,

there is no cost to you.

2 Corinthians 11:7-8