Remembering Our Father

⁴⁸ “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” ⁴⁹ Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

John 1:48-49 NIV

We are told nothing more than this special moment between Jesus and Nathanael. But there’s enough there. Jesus was speaking directly to Nathanael, with others present. He didn’t let anyone else in on the details… and Nathanael answered back in the same way. It was private moment between the two of them… and it changed the skeptic into a worshiper… we see this again in John 4 when the woman at the well realizes she has met the Messiah… and little later, the entire town that came out to see for themselves declared that they also, knew for themselves that this was the Messiah.

They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

John 4:42 NIV

This little boat that arrived today… is a special thing to me, I remember playing with it at bath time. My sister is the one who remembered its existence, and where exactly it is in the world. This one in the photograph is the exact same thing, because they were mass produced and sold by Avon. Our Mum was an Avon sales lady.

In “The Sin of Certainty” Peter Enns describes a moment at an Arizona Bar B Q where God and he had an “under the fig tree” moment. He had his veiled, and yet undeniable assurance given to him. Wanna know what it was? The book is available on Audible.ca and I’m sure you can Google the title to find a paper copy of it. It was published on April 5, 2016. Faith, Enns writes, is not a “what” word, but a “who” word.

I’m suffering lately, as in so many years now. And I long ago laid aside trying to figure out the why. Verses like Hebrews 12:7 help me to deal with that suffering:

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?

Hebrews 12:7 NIV

That verse tells me that God is in control, no matter what, and that I can trust him, since he’s my father.

So, what happened today? Diana sent a picture to me, to commemorate the passing of our Dad, 12 years ago today, January 19, 2023… its a picture of one of our father’s last moments on earth, being cuddled by our Mum:

A few days ago, as we remembered that little boat, she and I agreed that I’d send for it… and it came today in the mail, no so randomly, not so coincidentally.

My brother, Andrew, safe and sound, phoned me today, to tell me he’d read my Blog post, “Is It Safe?” And we talked about it, we interacted. My family… long hard battle that he’s fought, to give me back my brother. I told him, “I want my brother Andrew back…” and he’s working hard at doing that for me.

Another oh so wonderful thing happened that I’ll add later, much later. But a very precious part of my past was given to me also. The promise of it anyways. And so timely. An friend from long ago, painted a painting, that evoked so many memories for me. But it was the image that it created in my heart that mattered. I saw the Misericordia Hospital of Winnipeg in it, as well as the Assiniboine Park bridge, on a winter’s night, with the snow lightly falling. Like a dream, because all of the images flow in and out of one another. That was a long time ago, but recently she took the inspiration of that reaction of my heart, and painted a new painting, just for me. Just like Jesus did for Nathanael, and just like the Arizona Bar B Q for Peter Enns (read the book)

For the record. I feel loved today. By God, my father, by my brothers, my wife, and friends. I’m not so lonely anymore.

Amen