Family Man

Today, I was related a truly awful story, one that rends your heart in two while hearing it. A young family was thrown a bit out of their routine, and the father, a youth pastor, was to take his young daughter in with him to work at his church–for the first time in the nine months of her brief life. Sadly and inexplicably, he forgot her, and predictably, she is no longer with us.

I suppose that my first reaction on hearing this is always, “What kind of lame-ass parent forgets their child!?” I honestly ask myself, “How many things do you forget on a daily basis, things that are really important?” The answer is all too many.

I can’t say that I’d never forget my own child in the car, but … :sigh:

…

As I was reading of this story earlier, Andrew Peterson‘s album, Love & Thunder, was playing in the background. The song that came up was “Family Man”, Peterson’s heartfelt story about becoming a father and settling down, his realizations on how that all affected his plans for life, etc. It’s a really powerful song, as Rick can attest.

A particular piece of the song especially hit home in light of the day’s events:

So come on with the thunderclouds
Let the cold winds rail against us
Let the rain come down
We can build a roof above us with the love we found
And we can stand our ground
So let the rain come down

‘Cause love binds up what breaks in two
So keep my heart so close to you
And I’ll fill you up with love
Fill you up with love
And I’ll help you stand
‘Cause I am a family man

I absolutely cannot fathom the pain that this father is in; it is my hope that his faith, the love of his family, and the hope of life going forward are enough to sustain him.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

– 1 Cor. 13:13 [NIV]