Father Heart of God

J. R. Cobb was a guitarist and song writer; and he wrote a big hit called Spooky, went on to be in a band that meant a lot to me in the 70’s – when I was just an infant – the Atlanta Rhythm Section who had such songs as So into You, Oh, Atlanta, Doraville, Homesick and Dog Days – Anyway, in 1994, J.R. wrote a song recorded by Wynonna called Rock Bottom and in that song there is this lyric – “Rock Bottom is solid ground, and a dead end street is just a place to turn around.” Although, at difficult and trying times it may appears as if we have hit rock bottom; as believers we are far from rock bottom, as believers we are on solid ground, in life we may hit a few dead end streets, but as we turn around we can rest assured Our Father in heaven is there for us.

For me that is so reassuring, it also helps me to understand that when we hit those dead end roads that there is a process for turning around. In business, we are trained to understand human reaction to bad news, to dead ends and it is something called the SARA model. Heard of it? I have had to go through this many times when I found out about certain decisions or circumstances. The S stands for Shocked and as these dead ends occur I am shocked and I just can’t believe this is happening.

Next, the A stands for Anger and I usually go thru this period of Anger – not really anger more like extreme disappointment thinking all that work, all this time for what?

Then I hit the R or the rejection mode – I say to myself; no this can’t be, there must be a reason that I can turn around, there must be something I can do to convince or change the decision or circumstance. And then and only then did I hit the final A – acceptance saying ok it is real, now what.

You know Sara can be spelled another way with a H at the end and for me after I accept I can then move to the H’s of Help, Healing and Hope and as believers aren’t we blessed to have the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit? As I was recently going through this process I found myself in the book of Philippians, a book that many people call the book of encouragement, as Boice says “no book in the Bible is so filled with joy as Philippians – a joyful book of only 104 verses that also covers major Christian doctrines such as Christian love, hope, aspiration, joy and confidence.” As I was reading I found myself dwelling in Philippians 3:12-14; There is not time to really break this passage down, but a little context we should consider is that Philippians was written by Paul while in prison and most agree around AD 60 and Paul was Martyred in around AD62, so while Paul had every reason to be down, give up, be distressed, he wasn’t any of those things and he wrote his most confident joyful letter. There is so much in these 3 verses that we could talk for hours, but I will just highlight a couple of things that just shook me to the core.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.


So as I come to terms with where I am, where we are my encouragement is to press on no matter the circumstance – whatever that means, I am to press on in faith, I am to press on in humble confidence, I am to press on in Christ, I am to forget what is behind and strain (straining must indicate it might be tough) toward what is ahead; my focus is Christ. As I come to feel that way I am reminded and overwhelmed by the promises of God that he is with us and will not forsake us, that he loves us – oh how he loves us that as we turn around from our dead ends he is there with the arms of a father wide open, that he is our Father in heaven and we are his Children, that we can trust and rest in the father heart of God.

One final illustration, anyone know who Derek Redmond is? He was a world-class track athlete from Great Britain; a world champion in the 400 meters; he held the British record in the 400 meters and won gold medals in the world championships which lead up to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. This was a man who had trained almost his entire life to compete for a medal in the Olympics. I don’t know if Derek Redmond is a Christian or not, but his story gives me a clear picture, great encouragement and blessed assurance of the Father heart of God.

Derek Redmond in the semi-final of the 400 meter event was off to a great start and as he was into the first turn he tore his hamstring going down in great pain. Imagine the disappointment a lifetime of work gone in a blink. He sits crushed for what seems like forever, and then something happens. He picks himself up; he presses on determined to finish the race! He presses on forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. He struggles, limps, hops toward the finish line. As he struggles forward you see a commotion in the crowd when a man burst through security, it is his father. His father runs along side and wraps his arm around his son and together they finish the race.

Abba Father, we thank you for your heart for us your children. That no matter what is going on in our lives you are there as we press on. We thank you for your great love, your grace and mercy. Amen!

Press on everyone; we have a Father in Heaven there for us.

Grace and Peace!