His name is Charles Donald Bushen, and he is my Dad. A Father of five children. Three boys and two girls. I have so many fond memories growing up. A picture of my mom and dad’s wedding picture is hanging on the wall in our dining room. I look at it often. He was a hard worker. He built our second home and traveled many hours back and forth to work at General Electric for thirty-seven years. He took us swimming and fishing on the weekends, played baseball with us, hitting fly balls. We had weekends at the ski resort while Mom and Dad sat by the fire in the lodge. When I was young and dealing with chronic ear problems, surgeries, and trips to Boston, He was there for me when He could. While in Boston, we came to love the Boston Red Sox. Well not all of us. My oldest brother and twin sister are Yankee fans. I still keep praying……
He supported me while I was living in Colorado and Oklahoma. He helped me buy my first car. He always wrote me letters to share his wisdom and encouragement. I still have them today. My Father supported me through Community College, Bible College, and Ministry. There were times he sent me money to get me through the month. I know He was proud of me. He always told me He loved me. He was overjoyed when I introduced my soon-to-be wife to the family for the first time. He was a loving grandfather to our three kids and all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I remember a walk we took together after my ordination as we left Church one Sunday. He talked about His belief in God and being saved. It was wonderful. A Father and son sharing a moment.
My Father dealt with a lot in His life. He was a good father although not perfect. He had his challenges. There were health issues, marital problems, and financial challenges. The loss of a son at a young age, and my twin sister who has Cerebral Palsy. A daughter, who is my half-sister who he never got to see grow up. She was taken from my mom shortly after she was born. Just before my parent’s fiftieth wedding anniversary, we were reunited with her and her family. Through it all, my Dad just kept moving forward and doing the best He could. I know in my heart he prayed a lot. At the end of His life, our family deeply mourned His passing. He had many friends and co-workers who loved and appreciated Him like we all did. He will be greatly missed.
I’m glad I had an earthly Father and He is in heaven. But I also have a Heavenly Father.
I was not raised in Church although there was a brief time that we went to a Baptist Church. I remember going to Sunday school. I always thought about God at different times. I gave my heart to Christ when in my twenties. Today, I still miss my Dad, my kids miss their grandfather. I think about so many kids without their Fathers. So many are estranged from their Dads. I can’t imagine what it is like growing up without a father. Through my Christian life, I have come to know God as my heavenly Father. Psalm 68:5 (NKJV)-5 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation. This is a great Bible truth and one we need to embrace. In the Old Testament God was Jehovah-the Eternal one. In the New Testament, He is Father God. Jesus introduced to us this new reality. He even said to Phillip in John’s Gospel: John 14:9 (NKJV)-9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Jesus talked of His heavenly Father over a hundred times in John’s Gospel. You can see the intimate relationship that Jesus had with His Father. The book of Hebrews tells us that He was the exact image or expression of God the Father. Hebrews 1:3 (NKJV)-3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. To know Jesus is to know the Father.
How important it is to see God as our Father and not some distant and impersonal God. That we see Him as a loving Father and not some tyrannical spiritual being. Someone ready to punish us when we mess up. Someone who is constantly judging and condemning us. Someone who is releasing His anger and wrath. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Because of Jesus, God isn’t mad at us anymore. He is not angry with us! 1 John 3:1 (NKJV)-1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 1 John 2:1 (NKJV)-1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. There will be a time when God will judge the nations and those that reject Christ ( John 12:48,Rev 20:12, Rev 11:18).
The prophet Isaiah calls Him the Everlasting Father ( Isaiah 9:6). That Jesus would reveal the Father to us. I watched a YouTube video of grown children meeting their biological dad for the first time. It was a very emotional reunion. When the gentleman would say to the son or daughter, ” I am your father”. Needless to say, tears were flowing all around. I know some would never want to remember or see their dads. That is a tough one. Fathers who abandoned, neglected, and abused their kids. I hope they can come to a place of forgiveness towards their father. God still loves them! For all the stepdads who became a part of new families, who became great fathers and mentors. That’s awesome!
What I do know and believe is that our heavenly Father is good. He never abandons, neglects, or abuses His children. The Bible says that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to save us (John 3:16, 1 John 4:9). God our Father desires to have a relationship with us. 1 John 1:3 (NKJV) 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ ( 1 Peter 1:3). In Romans Apostle Paul tells us that God’s love has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. (Rom. 5:5). Many in the body of Christ struggle and fail to fully realize the love of God. 1 John 4:16 (NKJV)-16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
It is not enough just to know that God is love but to believe it as well. To believe that God loves us personally.
We can’t just know it in our heads we have to believe it in our hearts. This can only come through an intimate relationship with our heavenly Father and believing in His Word. 1 John 4:18 (NKJV)-18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect Mature, complete) in love. It always seems like God is on trial. People question His nature and character. They blame Him for so many things. People shake their fists, angry at God. Yet God is incapable of anything else but just loving us. Unfortunately, they don’t know God’s love. All they know is fear. To know the love of God is to be free from fear. The good news is that God loved us before we even knew Him ( Rom 5:8). Every good thing comes from Him. James 1:17 (NKJV)-17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. God’s love never changes. It is who He is!(Mal 3:6, Heb 13:8). It is not based on our behavior or performance. It isn’t like when we were kids and played that game with Daisy’s “He loves me, He loves me not.” God loves me when I do all the right things and He still loves me when I don’t. My earthy father wasn’t always pleased with my wrong behavior but he always loved me. God does too!
Romans 8:15-16 (NKJV)15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. When we received Christ, God placed us into His family. We became the sons and daughters of God by adoption. We cry Abba-daddy or papa God! This is the sweet relationship that we have been blessed with! After Jesus’ resurrection, He made a wonderful statement: John 20:17 (NKJV)-17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ “ Jesus speaking to Mary told her that God was not only her God but her Father. To the Jewish mind, this was a whole new ballgame for them. The God of the Old Testament is Elohim-creator God, El Roi (The God who sees me), El Shaddai (Lord God Almighty), Yahweh Rophe (The Lord Heals), Yahweh Yireh (The Lord will Provide), Yahweh Shammah (The Lord is There), Yahweh Nissi (The Lord My Banner). is also called Abba Father! ( Gal 4:6).
In Closing: The Fatherhood of God is such a blessing to know and walk in. Jesus teaching us about prayer said himself,” Our Father which art in heaven..( Matt 6:9).
God will never forsake us, abandon us, reject us or lie to us!
John 14:18 (NKJV)-18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. He will not leave us fatherless, parentless, or comfortless. Jesus affirms the Father’s love for us in John 14:21 (NKJV)-21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” If we have received the Son into our lives we have also received a heavenly Father. Regardless of how our earthy Father was, we have a heavenly Father. He is not an absentee Father. He is a Father close at hand. He will never leave us or forsake us! Let us thank God today that He is our Father in heaven. To know the love of our Father is a lifelong journey. Let us pray for a greater revelation of His love and Fatherhood.
Ephesians 2:4-7 (NKJV)-4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:37-39 (NKJV)-37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In Christ’s love;
Brent and Linda Bushen
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