Having the Right View of our Father

This post is from Pastor Ryan

Mark Batterson closes chapter 2 with a story about his son Parker. The context he tells this story in, reveals that the character of our God can be described as more than just the man behind the curtain calling all the shots, but He is also our Father. David records a prayer in the book of Psalms stating, “Keep me as the apple of Your eye.” Our Heavenly Father regards His people as intensely valuable to Him. He treats His children with a tremendous amount of care. Back to the story, Mark had been practicing free throws with his son since the beginning of the season. His son not only missed the majority of his attempts, but most of them were air balls. (For those who may not be fluent in basketball terms, that means his son didn’t hit anything on the goal.) His son had gotten fouled at the end of one of their games, and he was at the line to shoot free throws. Mark said that he prayed to God that his son would at least hit the rim. Parker not only got it to the rim, but he made the shot. Mark responded with weeping. He was so excited for his son. With having a son of my own, I can relate to that. I love it when my son Kason just goes for something daring, even though he might mess up. And it is so cool when he accomplishes his goal. But honestly, I find more pleasure in his trying rather than his accomplishments. I can imagine our Heavenly Father reacting in a similar way. On page 32, Mark writes, “I think this reveals something about God. He cares about the little things…God is great not just because nothing is too big for Him. God is great but because nothing is too small for Him either.”