Mom was out of town. It was just me and Dad for the weekend, some father-son time and what better day than Father's Day itself! Order of the day – church, Chinese take-out lunch, maybe watch a few episodes of Home Improvement or M*A*S*H. Yeah, it was going to be a good day.
Then came the Kidney Stone.
I'd never had one before and had no idea what was happening when it made itself known. It started during soundcheck (before church) and within half an hour, we were sitting in the Emergency Room at the hospital. I will save you the agonizing details. Actually, it turned out to be not that bad. They gave me some medicine and I fell asleep; when I woke up I felt better and they said it had passed. The painful part (besides the ache in my side beforehand) was that it consumed the day. Who wants to spend Father's Day by a hospital bedside? But there he was the whole time. My dad sat with me, read to me, prayed with me – all day. When I couldn't describe the pain, he just kept a hand on my stomach, like he could feel it himself that way. And not a word about his spoiled holiday, it didn't even come up in his mind or on his face.
This wasn't the first time we'd spent hours in the Emergency Room together. St. Patrick's Day the year before found us there on account of my dehydrated system, and countless times before that had us in because of my silly lungs. I don't know if there is such a thing as a Gold Member at the hospital, but we could probably qualify for it by now. And every time, dad has been right there with me.
And we often talk about our God in terms of an earthly father, and we hope to see some parallels. But I get to see it every day in the continual self-sacrifice of my parents. And people talk about the problem of pain and they ask how a loving God can stand by and watch bad things happen to His children. But my dad holds my hand in silence by my bedside and, without a word or healing action, makes me feel better. I pull through because he's there. His love is sufficient. How much more sustaining, then, is our Heavenly Father's love? How much more powerful is His presents in our lives? In those moments of darkness, loneliness, and pain, when you can't even describe how you feel, He is there with His mighty hand gently on your wound. And you may not hear Him, you may not even see Him, but you can sense His presence and you can trust that it is good.
I thank my Heavenly Father for giving me such an amazing example here of His great love. And I only pray that I can learn to be the same to my children and to those around me.