Memories of My Father

     How thankful I am to have stored so many happy memories of my Father who is now in the presence of the Father in Heaven. Not many remember my gentle father as one of the warriors who battled the armies of Hitler through Italy and France. Dad spent many weeks in a field hospital after being wounded by the bomb that sunk his landing craft. Yet of all the fighting and all the experiences, most important to him was one day when he was serving as artillery-man. The big gun was set and ready to fire,when suddenly Dad saw that the coordinates were wrong. His own fellow soldiers were in the gun sights! He called out just in time, the gun was not fired and lives were saved. How strange that with all the death and destruction that led to the final victory, Dad remembered how he had saved a life!

     Romans 6:23 tells us of another day in history. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." God's law had us in its sights. We had done terrible and selfish things that called out for our death sentence. Yet at the very moment when God's true and holy justice was to be carried out, the Father called out "Stop! Don't fire!"  Jesus came and drank the cup for us. He was struck down so that we could be given the gift of eternal life. Of all the wars and all the death and all the suffering of all time our Heavenly Father looked down and remembered life. Nothing else in all of the universe holds the value of a single soul to God. He gave His own Son for us, so we could live in Him.
As we remember Father's day today let's pause for a moment and really remember the most valuable treasure we have - the Father's gift of Life.