[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Tuesday, June 18, 2013

[Paul]

Hello and good day to all my fellow readers, wherever in this world you happen to reside and whenever you read this message.  I hope and pray that, by God's matchless grace and His providential care, that your day is going well, will go well or went well.

This will be the last Father's Day article for a while, but I thought it was so precious that I'd like to share it with you.  It's author is unnamed, but it is taken from a compilation of stories entitled "Stories For the Family's Heart." This story in question is entitled "She Went Over Her Daddy's Head" and is rendered as follows:

It's been fifteen years since I heard this little story.  You may find it as unforgettable as I did.

In the southern states that summer, the mercury had hung in or near the 90's for five or six straight weeks.  It was on a morning when the sun was blazing that the testifier told us.

Just a few days before, his five-year-old daughter had come to him with a little note of anguish in her voice.  She had told him "Daddy, it's still awful hot," and asked, "can we go swimming?"

"I had to tell her no," her daddy reported.  "It costs about eight dollars to take my family swimming, so we don't go very often.  Some other time," I told her.

"But that wasn't enough.  She wanted to know why not now? So I explained that we just didn't have the money for it."

Well, to the little girl that was a good explanation but a poor solution.  She promptly took the matter to a Higher Court.  "I'm going to ask God," she said.

And then, with just a tiny pinch of defiance, off she rushed to her bedroom.

Intrigued, her daddy followed on tiptoe and stood just outside her door, carefully out of sight, to hear what she would ask of God.  And this is what he heard:

"God, it's awful hot down here today, just awful hot.  And I want to go swimming.  But they charge a lot of money, and my daddy can't take us because he hasn't got that much.  So will you please do something? Thank you God.  Amen."

Oh, the love in that father's voice when he told what the little girl did next:  She put on her bathing suit.  Then she got a towel.  And then, towel draped around her neck, she headed for the front porch, announcing as she went that she was going outside to wait for God to do something.

She'd just taken her seat on the porch steps, elbows on knees and chin in hand, when the telephone rang.  Her mother answered it.

The caller was the wife of a couple they knew, but did not know well.  They were interesting and likable acquaintances, but yet not close friends.

"We've been wanting to know you folks better," she told the little girl's mother.  "Today's another scorcher, and we wondered whether you'd like to come over to the club with us for some swimming?"

"Oh, we'd love to!" the mother replied.  "But, how soon are you going? I've been lazy this morning, and there are a few things I have to do before ..."

"Oh, no problem!" the caller said.  "We're not ready yet either.  I didn't even think of it until a few minutes ago."

And there you have the article for today.  If you're smart enough to put two and two together, that "few minutes ago" was probably the exact time when this little girl went out on the front porch in her bathing suit.  Do I have a witness here? This article also reminded me of that little phrase tucked away in the Bible, in Isaiah chapter 11, I believe, that states that "a little child shall lead them." Maybe I'm taking this a bit out of context, but despite my masculinity I can be both persuaded or even cajoled into doing certain things if a little girl wanted me to do them, provided they are doable and not something that would cause harm or injury, of course.  There's a little girl named Carly on our very street, and we've had several pleasant conversations together.

And now until tomorrow when, Lord willing another daily thought message will be presented, may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul