Slightly edited...as I try to clarify my own thoughts...
I rec'd one of those dreaded phone calls last night. My brother called to tell me his son had died. He hadn't seen his son since he was about 4yrs old (& he was "now" about 32 yrs old, I think). This news totally(!) and completely broadsided my brother - as it came from "out of the blue". It's a looong sad story that "ends" like this: "that's just the way it was." Nonetheless - this news moved my brother to tears. Naturally I had a hard time sleeping ... & tho't to journal here where some of my thoughts led ...
My brother NEVER forgot his son - & I think quietly he hoped one day his son would seek & return to him & they'd be reunited.
From there, I found some comfort in understanding that once a person becomes a parent....they are forever & always a parent after that ... NOTHING can ever change that. No matter if the child is aborted, miscarried, placed up for adoption, taken away, dies, eventually runs away in an attempt to disown his family, -- or they enjoy a long & healthy relationship that leads to much blessing. Even if a father doesn't know he has a child, it doesn't change the fact that he is still the father!
While our earthly relationships are all imperfect to some degree & we can change so much in regards to them based on the choices we make, I can't help but wonder if this "once a father, always a father" concept illustrates what God, in His perfection, really wanted us to understand as it relates to the relationship between Him and His children .... and so created something inherent in the (biological) father/son (parent/child) relationship that simply/absolutely could not ever be changed.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 6:37-40 (NIV) All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Romans 8:38 (NIV) For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our LORD.
Hebrews 6:17 - 20 (NIV) Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.
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