Have Patience Dad | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Have Patience Dad | Previous Challenge Entry
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08/24/08
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Title: Have Patience Dad:

“Have patience dad.”
“I’ll have patients alright; and if you don’t go away you’re likely to be one of them,” he roared.

Discretion told me to leave the scene rapidly. My dad was having one of those days when nothing would go right and his frustration was out of control. With a large spanner in his hand he was liable to do anything.

He had already kicked the car leaving a large dent in the front fender, and causing him pain. Dad’s temper often resulted in this sort of behaviour. On another occasion he had punched a hole in a wall of the house. That had cost us a large sum of money and I guessed we were heading there again.

Dad prided himself in believing he could fix anything, and tried. Because of his lack of patience and overconfidence, most things cost us far more to get fixed than they would have. If he could only admit he was wrong. That was just how it was back in those days before Dad found Christ.

One day a young Pastor knocked on our door;
“I don’t look like a minister, do I?” he announced.

“No; you look like an insurance salesman.” Dad replied.

“Well, I am a preacher. Can you spare a little time to hear how I became one?” the young man asked.

Dad felt he had nothing to lose and invited the preacher in. This invitation was the turning point in my father’s life. This chance meeting resulted in Dad surrendering his life to Jesus and becoming an ardent churchgoer and witness for Jesus. There was such a radical change in his life. He stopped drinking immediately and gave up smoking in a very short time. In no time at all his very nature seemed to change and he told everyone that all this was because he had received Jesus into his life.

We could tell he was different. Instead of the over confidence in his own ability, he would pray about absolutely everything. To me the greatest wonder was how much more he could accomplish now that he approached everything patiently and calmly. He no longer punched holes in the wall or dented the car and we children, could approach him without fear. He was a different man.

One night as I sat beside him, I asked him. “Dad, why is everything so different in our home now?”

He told me, that when a man surrenders his life to Jesus Christ, the Bible says that, that man is a new creation. Old things have passed away and all things are become new.

“How can this be?”

“It is a work of the Holy Spirit. A miracle of God’s grace.” He replied. “Jesus said that unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. We need to be born of water and the Spirit.

“When we were born of human parents we took on their nature and likeness and became sinners. We are not sinners because of what we do. No, it is rather that we sin because we have inherited the sinful nature of our forefathers since Adam. When the Holy Spirit transforms us, the law of God’s life giving Spirit sets us free from the law of sin and death.”

“But Dad, how can this happen?”

“It is a mystery, because all our efforts to accomplish this bring no hope, until we receive Jesus.”

“You see, we sinners needed a sacrifice for past sin and a power to overcome present temptation. Jesus, God’s only true son, provided both for us in his death, burial and resurrection. When Jesus suffered and died on the cross, he bore the punishment for all our sin. Then when he rose again from the dead he provided us the opportunity to receive his power in our lives to become victors over temptation.”

“We must believe in our hearts that God has raised Jesus from the dead and confess with our mouths the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and then we are saved.”

I’m sure that as you read this you will realise what gave my father patience and gave me an earthly father who led me into a relationship with my heavenly Father.

Today I listened to that Country gospel song again.

It is no secret, what God can do.
What He’s done for others, He’ll do for you.
With arms wide open, He’ll pardon you.
It is no secret what God can do.

(750 Words)

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