“In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them” Psalm 22:4

A husband and wife on vacation at a lake didn’t notice their three-year-old son Billy wandering toward the dock to investigate a boat. He tried to stretch his short legs from the dock to the boat, but didn’t quite make it – and fell into six-feet-deep water. The splash brought Dad running. He dove into the murky water groping with his arms and legs trying to find Billy. His lungs nearly bursting, he pushed toward the surface – and touched Billy, whose arms were locked around a piling four feet underwater. Dad pried him loose, and they hit the surface together gasping for air.

When they had recovered, Dad asked little Billy what he was doing hanging onto that piling. Billy’s answer: “Just waitin for you, Dad. ”

When his life was on the line, Billy knew his dad would come through. It’s true that fathers bear heavy responsibility for the welfare and protection of their children. We parents have a tough assignment, but most of us wouldn’t have it any other way. The most difficult, important, and wonderful task of all is to teach our kids to trust their heavenly Father even more than they depend on Dad.