Monday, June 18, 2012

HE CALLS ME "DADDY"

About 10 days ago, a young boy moved into my house.  I don't believe he has ever known his father.  During his young life, the State removed him from his mother on two occasions.  He has spent over one-third of his life in foster care.  Even while in foster care, I don't think he ever had a strong relationship with a man.  Almost immediately after moving into our home, he started calling me "Daddy".  In fact, he does not just call me "Daddy", he calls it over and over.  It is to the point where he almost over uses the term.  He says it so often that it almost gets annoying. The fact that he started calling me "Daddy" so quickly and says it so often indicates, I think, that he likes to call me "Daddy".

He has never really been given the chance to call anyone "Daddy".  As he called it out yesterday, Father's Day, I thought that this boy really needs a dad; this is my chance to be a dad for him.  This was my 19th Father's Day as a dad, but this one had a little different meaning as I thought about this boy needing a father and calling me "Daddy".  God has given me a chance to be a father, not just to my children, but to the fatherless.  I will resist getting annoyed when he calls it out over and over because I know that, during his entire life, he has not had many opportunities to say it.  I pray that I will have a meaningful impact on his life and that, for many years to come, he will still be able to call me "Daddy".