This is the second year I’m able to call myself a father. Eli Jobiah Bremnes was born to us on a snowy December day in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada only a few months before we moved to Music City USA, Nashville, Tennessee. My wife and I were both excited and a little nervous, but mostly just looking forward to this new part of our lives.

Although it took me a while to get to know this little guy, there was one experience that I remember from the start—pain. I had never felt someone else’s pain like I did Eli’s. It broke my heart hearing him cry. If I saw him fall, get bumped, scratch his little knee—anything that hurt him would hurt me in a way I had never felt before.

In turn, these feelings made me think more about God. Was I experiencing what God had felt about my life—all of our lives—from the beginning?

Sometimes we fall down and get hurt. Other times it’s the action of another person that affects us, and we feel pain. Like a good father, God’s heart breaks when our heart breaks. Sometimes in His sovereignty He protects us from trouble, and other times He allows us to go through pain so that we can grow. This Father’s Day, remember that God is for you. You are His child and He loves you through through your pain and your joy. Trust your life in His hands, because He’s building something beautiful.

Leave a Reply