ADVENT'S HOPE: FIGHTING MAD DAD

Dad with my youngest son Jonathan just days before he passed away.

It was the call you never want to get, the kind you never forget.  I was rehearsing with our church Christmas choir on a Sunday afternoon, when someone tapped me on the shoulder and whispered: “Your mom called and needs you to come to the hospital right away.  It’s your dad.”  I dropped everything and drove as fast as I could, a sinking feeling in my stomach.  The ER staff smiled sadly and pointed me to a room somewhere downstairs.  As I walked down a long, intimidating hallway, mom came out of a room.  When she saw me she whispered through tears, “He’s gone Tricia.  Dad’s gone.” In that moment, my world was irrevocably changed.  Because I was uncommonly blessed with a loving, doting, very hands-on father, his passing left a huge whole in my heart and life.  

It’s been over a quarter century now, yet Christmas always evokes that sadness of losing my dad.  Memories tend to come flooding back, at times making the season bitter, yet ever more sweet.  One came a few days ago as I pondered one of my favorite passages for the Advent season--Isaiah 9:6.

---

This week I’ve been meditating on each of those names and discovered that the word “might” as in “Mighty God,” refers to a warrior who gets fighting mad on behalf of others, doing whatever it takes to protect them and ensure their safety. My dad was like that.  
​
When I got my first traffic ticket, dad was incensed at the injustice of it and insisted on going with me to court.  Knowing they wouldn’t let him talk, he gave me careful instructions on what to say and how to approach the judge.   As we walked those massive halls, my heart felt like it would beat out of my chest.  

​Dad bought me a Hershey bar (my favorite comfort food), and as we waited in the courtroom, I discovered that the paperwork proving my innocence had gone into the trash with the candy wrapper.  Dad patted me on the knee, whispered that I could handle this, and left to try and retrieve it.  I’ve often looked back on that experience and my sense of safety and security because of dad's presence, rare commodities in our world today.  

​This week as I’ve spent hours helping my brother in the hospital, shared emotionally at my dear friend’s Memorial service, and tried to manage all the pieces of life made more complex by the Christmas holidays, I’ve clung to these things, resting in their profound reality.  This is the precious impact of Advent—to not only remember that Jesus has come, but that in His presence is everything I will ever need to live in this broken world. 
​

MAKING ADVENT MEANINGFUL

• Take some time this week to meditate on the four names in Isaiah 9:6. What are you facing right now that each name addresses?  Look them up on Blue Letter Bible and find the word meanings or other Scriptures using the same word.  To get you started: For Wonderful Counselor-Psalm 32:8; Mighty God-Psalm 24:8; Eternal Father-Psalm 103:13, Prince of Peace-Isaiah 26:3.  
• 12 Day of Christmas Devotionals!  These short meditations, which take you into the lives of 12 key characters in the Christmas, story begin this week.  You can receive them via email by signing up here if you do not already receive my blog posts.  If you'd like them sooner or want the entire set accessible, I have provided them here.

Have a blessed week!