91. Wala ka sa Lolo ko. He has a Father like no other.
14 January 2021
You can't take your money to heaven.
You can sure take your children to heaven with you. - Lou Holtz, College Football Hall of Fame
Ephesians 6
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—
3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
Let me share what I wrote 27 September 2017.
“Like father, like child.
We were shown a video of a son being physically abused by his father. He was made to go inside a sack to be made a punching bag. He grew up hating his dad, and when he became a young man, he held his father by the neck and he warned his father not to abuse him again or he will kill him; the father came to his senses. The son had no love for his mother who was silent all along. The son married, and later became a Christian at a time his first daughter was sick almost dying and a Pastor came to pray for healing. That moment, he himself prayed that if God really exists and heals his daughter, then he will worship God, and God heard his prayer. Later, after so many tries, he finally shared his faith with his father and they were reconciled; the mother died earlier, he did not have the same opportunity with her.
The son, a victim of physical abuse, is now Regional Pastor of a church.
A story of the Father in heaven and his son on earth.
“Lord, Heavenly Father, by faith, I claim to be Your son here on earth. I desire to give You honor; You have put the same desire in my heart to honor my parents when they were alive, a trait I pass on to my children, knowing it comes with the blessing to enjoy long life on earth. Lord, sustain me with Your grace that I obey the Heavenly Father for it is right, it shall then follow that even for me as a husband I shall love my wife, and as a father care for my children; not on my own but by the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.””
Again, you can't take your money to heaven, yet you can sure take your children to heaven with you.
“I have a strong faith in God.
My greatest accomplishment is not coaching, not TV, not speaking.
My greatest accomplishment is my family.
Wanna be happy for an hour? Eat a steak.
Wanna be happy for a day? Play golf.
Wanna be happy for a week? Go on a cruise.
Wanna be happy for a lifetime?
Put your faith in Jesus Christ.”
Fathering, or parenting for that matter, is a lifetime career for which you cannot take a particular course that you can ensure you will be successful at it, paraphrasing our Dear Pastor Clem Guillermo.
I had my failures as a father, hence I am heartened that our children grew up with the fear of God. I cannot claim credit for it, my failures could have influenced them otherwise. Yet, they turned out to be with obedience in heart.
During each wedding of our three children, I said, I can only stand as a parent by the grace of God.
I have been severely ill twice, in 2004 and in 2008, and to give blessing to each of our children in marriage years later, I consider it a special favor from the Lord after He healed me twice.
A passage which spoke to my innermost being the very first I read it:
Psalm 118
18 The Lord has chastened me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
I have a father,
He calls me his own
He'll never leave me,
No matter where I go
He formed my heart,
Before even time began
My life was in his hands
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And hears me when I call
One day my children's children will say, wala ka sa Lolo ko; he has a Father like no other.
In the words of Apostle Paul, ‘For in him we live and move and have our being. We are his offspring.’
Maraming salamat.
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