"JUST LIKE MY HEAVENLY FATHER"

Matthew 18:1-7 "At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! My father is Pastor Charles W. Savage, II. He was born and raised in Ohio. He is number nine of twelve children. He received Christ as his Saviour when he was sixteen years old. He spent four years in the army and eight in the army reserves. He drifted from the Lord while he was in the army but, thankfully, when he was twenty-six years old someone from the local, independent Baptist church was out going door-to-door, and they found him. He gave his life back over to the Lord before I was ever born and our family has never known a time when we were not serving the Lord faithfully in a local church. He surrendered to preach, went to Bible college, and worked himself almost to death trying to take care of his family. He worked in a church for ten years as....Associate pastor, song leader, bus driver, choir director, Sunday-school teacher, head of men's soul-winning group, janitor and lawn mower. The church also had a christian school so he worked there too as...principal, teacher of grades 7 - 12, basketball coach (whenever we didn't have one), P.E. teacher, and janitor. On any day or night he had free, he was building a house for the pastor on the property the church had purchased for him. Then he moved us to a place where he started his own church. And he still does whatever needs to be done for the Lord's ministry. MY DAD IS "SUPER-DAD!" (Now, he doesn't brag on himself. He would never try to take any glory for the way the Lord used him. But, I need to use him for an example in this, K?) I can write his whole life story here if I wanted to. Know why? Because there is nothing in it for me to be ashamed of. Don't get me wrong now,...Mother was there too. She worked hard, right a long beside him, every step of the way. She seldom got (or gets) the credit she deserved. I believe that God will hand her a special crown with Daddy's name etched in it, and he'll wink at mom so she knows that HE knows all the stuff she did. She is AWESOME! But back to my father...... The Lord took this little child and set him in the midst of them, and said, "And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." My Daddy was just like that. If you didn't receive one of his kids, you didn't receive him. Basically, "you mess with me, you mess with the whole family." He taught us to be proud of who we were in his words, as much as in his actions. He taught me to ride a bike and swim. He ran off pesky boys, and "well-meaning" church people. He protected me and my siblings from every harm or hurt he could. And with little more than you could feed two people on, he always made sure there was food on the table, a roof over our heads, and clothes on our back. In short...He loved (and still loves) us. I haven't always been the best daughter but God gave me the BEST Dad! I am not ashamed for anyone to know that Charles Savage is my father. I am proud to be his daughter. Even better than that, HE tells people that he is proud to be my dad! He identifies himself as my father, and I identify myself as his daughter. He has never done anything to make me ashamed to be called his child. He has never (like in the verses above) brought "offences" to me. JUST LIKE my Heavenly Father, my Daddy loves me. JUST LIKE my Heavenly Father, my Daddy chastised me. JUST LIKE my Heavenly Father, my Daddy hated when we sinned. JUST LIKE my Heavenly Father, my Daddy never left me nor forsook me. Our Heavenly Father wants to be identified with us too. Isn't that amazing? Why would He want to be identified as our Father? He who has never known any sin wants to be known as our Father! We are so blessed to have a Heavenly Father that wants to be identified with us. I am more than glad to claim Him as my Heavenly Father and so very thankful that he claims me as his child. (And if you mess wit me, my father beat you up!):-)