Song and dance rang out from Buwenge Blue Primary School on
Father’s Day. The children packed the small space in eager anticipation of this
new little church gathering. I’d prepared a message about the importance of the
role men have in the lives of their children – targeted at the fathers – but a
room full of kids called for swift course adjustment. Rather than teaching
fathers to express the same love their heavenly Father expresses, I talked to
the children about growing up under the love of their heavenly Father. We
learned about a love so big that even when we leave him for things like fame
and wealth, or when we do stupid things, we can return and be forgiven. Not
only can we return, but our Father will come running to us just like in the
story of the Prodigal Son. It’s a story we’ve all heard before but such
reinforcement in the lives of so many fatherless children is never a wasted word.