The DAD Panic Emotion!

Jesus said, "Not one [sparrow] will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father." -Matthew 10:29 (NIV)

Matthew started school last week and Alice starts today. I think of all the good memories of school and then I think of all the bad ones. The teasing and the hurt. It is then my Dad PANIC emotion sets in. What have we done? God help us?

Janice Ross of Orkney Island, Scotland wrote,

AS a keen birdwatcher, I often long for some spectacular species to come to my feeder while often dismissing the common birds. That was true until I happened on a little sparrow, that most familiar of birds, which had been stunned by a passing vehicle and was lying on the road. I quickly rescued the bird and gently carried it home. Looking at it closely, I was amazed at its beauty. Its back was a beautiful, rich chestnut color with black stripes, and its wings were brown with a lovely white bar. Its head was gray, and its chest and abdomen were fluffy and white. I marveled at the delicate feet that can hold this frail-looking little bird to a twig in the fiercest of gales. As I cupped its tiny body in my hand, the faint heartbeat against my palm I began cry.

The Bible says that God knows when a sparrow falls to the ground. God had watched this particular sparrow fall to the ground, had watched me pick it up, and was with us now in this moment. I realized that like the sparrow lovingly sheltered in my hand, I am held in the palm of God's hand. God speaks tender words to me and tells me I am loved, approved, and valued beyond measure.

My children are also cupped in the palm of God's hand. I still panic, yet I know that something much bigger is holding them tightly. I am also reminded that God looks at me with those same loving eyes...I am glad He did not panic, but responded even to the point of death on the cross from me. You know I love ya and have a great day! Don