Friday, 09 January 2009

• The Best Father Ever

  Guest post submitted by hubbaduh

  Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me. Psalm 27:10, NIV

   

  Perhaps your parents have dissed you for various reasons.  Doesn't matter.  God's cool...He'll take you in. 

  Perhaps your parents are physically there, but emotionally unavailable -that's okay too- God's got that covered as well. 

  Shortly before I became a Christian I stumbled upon this verse, and I immediately tucked it away in one of the many nooks (of "nooks and crannies") in my heart.  It really spoke to me.  Both my parents had died a few years earlier, and why they didn't exactly "forsake" me in perhaps the traditional sense, it sure as hell felt like they did and it left me in the same place as if they had "actively" left me. 

  I always figured that the verse was really referring to people whose parents had basically said "screw you, you're not my kid anymore, get away from me," but years later I read somewhere that in reality, it was more than likely a reference to someone whose parents had died.  Huh...so that whole time that verse literally was speaking to my situation, but I just didn't know it.
  
  Lately I've been thinking about how this verse really applies to those within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community as well. 

  Let's be honest here- not everyone has uber-supportive parents.  Rejection is something that us homos have to deal with on a regular basis.  When those closest to us turn their backs on us, well, that hurts a whole hell of a lot.  Our family is supposed to be there no matter what, right?  I mean they say that "blood is thicker than water" (who the hell is this "they" that we always speak of anyway?), but in practice, too often coming out of the closet really tests that old adage.
  
  One of the things that I love about God is how when everyone turns their back on you, when everyone rejects you, when everyone leaves you all alone, He doesn't.  God does not reject, but rather He accepts.  You want to be one of "His people," He's down with that.  Yes, He's got some rules -His kids are supposed to act a certain way ("like father, like son"), but He's never going to kick you to the curb simply because of your imperfections.
  
  God has rules and standards, and the human race has totally messed them up.  The thing is, God WANTED us so badly that He made this way for us to be His kids regardless of our many failures and shortcomings (cue Jesus).  God's the kind of dad that doesn't simply "tolerate" His kids but He really DESIRES them.  Not only that....but sometimes I think that He must be Catholic, because He sure seems to want a crapload of us kids (cue rimshot). 

  I don't care who you are...God wants you.  Yes, He's going to want to change and grow you as well, perhaps even in completely different ways than you first thought.  He's a good dad, and He wants His kids to be awesome and have awesome lives....the changes that He asks of you will help you in your transformation into awesomeness, even if it doesn't seem quite like it at first.

  Ultimately, there are only two ways to live.  Which way will you choose to live your life?

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