A Father’s Day Message

Originally published June 19, 2016.

Today is Father’s Day. There’s no doubt that many dads here and around the world deserve to be celebrated. Sadly, not everyone has a father to celebrate. In fact, fatherlessness is a major reason for many of society’s failures.

I personally understand the negative effect and sadness in a child’s life when the father is nowhere to be found. Some of you are familiar with the fact that the man who forcefully impregnated my 41-year-old mother Myra was an alcoholic. At age 66, I still deal with challenging issues related to his absence.

I always felt I would have been a good “best little buddy” for a dad who simply wasn’t there. I must add very quickly, however, that somehow—perhaps with the few years of exposure to Rev. H.D. Hale, a pastor who welcomed me into his home and gave me the privilege of calling him “Daddy”—I did come to know the ultimate Father.

This Father, who is God Almighty, invites all of us to know Him personally and in such an intimate fashion that we can call him “Abba, Father,” which is another expression for “Daddy.” I have developed a very meaningful and transforming relationship with my heavenly Father. He is my very best Friend, and, yes, I know He loves me and makes me aware of it daily.

As a father, I can find areas where I absolutely missed the mark. But I am so grateful our children were inspired to look beyond me and see the Father, the One who is perfect in every way. They not only saw Him, but they were drawn to Him and fell in love with Him. They have imparted that love to our grandchildren, and it is beautiful to behold.

I share this with the hope that anyone who faces seemingly impossible challenges can see that through the grace and power of a loving Father, you can still have a stable, secure and joyful life. I know this firsthand.

There are a few experiences with my earthly father that I think are important to share. During my late teens, Joe Bailey Robison spent several years in prison for various crimes. When Betty and I knew we were to marry, my birth mother would not sign consent papers. At the time of our marriage in 1963, parental consent was required for anyone under 21 years of age. My father signed the consent papers while in prison.

I’ve often said, “Thank God my father finally did something meaningful for me by enabling me to marry the beautiful, precious person I have spent my life with.” (You can read our story in the book we wrote about our marriage, Living in Love.)

After Betty and I had been married a few years and had a beautiful little girl, Rhonda, my alcoholic father suddenly entered our lives. He moved to the Houston area, and I tried to get him help with a ministry that worked with addicts. He did not make progress. One day as I drove home from San Jacinto Junior College, where I was attending, I saw a man lying in the gutter face down. I pulled my car over to see if I could help, and as I knelt down and rolled the man over, I realized it was my own father.

I provided him with a place to stay and asked for someone to look after him while I took care of my family and attended classes. One afternoon when I dropped by to see him, I found that he had coerced some of the people near the complex to go and buy him some alcohol. He had gotten so drunk he couldn’t get out of bed, and he had actually thrown up all over his shirt. This was the man I had never truly known, who had never told me he loved me, who had never bought me a bite of food, pair of shoes or provided anything in my behalf. I said to him, “I love you and really want the best for you.” I told him about Jesus and how much God loved him.

Over the coming months and years, I never saw a change in my father. I actually witnessed to him a few days before he put his head on the pillow, fell asleep and died that night.

I have often hoped that some day when I get to heaven and see the throngs around Jesus, there will be a hand waving through the crowd and a voice shouting, “Son, look here! It’s your dad!” and discover that somehow in the last days or hours after I had witnessed to him, he invited Jesus into his heart and came to know God the Father. Yes, I believe that’s possible because we have a God so full of amazing grace. That would be one of the joyful surprises in heaven if my father was there.

I wish there had been a dad in my life, but I am so grateful to know the Father whom anyone can know. He is so indescribably awesome, so full of love and mercy. He offers forgiveness and life to every person on earth.

I pray that you have a father you can express some form of gratitude and appreciation for today. But above all, give thanks to God the Father for His love and the fact that, regardless of our background or the painful experiences of a childhood, we can all know our heavenly Father in the most personal way.