“Instead, we become His children and call Him our Father.”

Romans 8:15

Our little family enjoyed the afternoon at the zoo yesterday. On our way out, after a fun little trip around the zoo on its train, my wife heard a noise in the trash can as she was passing by. She hurried, but was curious. As she looked back, a raccoon poked its head out and crawled up on top of the can, much to her dismay! She was carrying our toddler, Josiah (tightly), and she understandably let out some sort of shriek and quickly moved a safe distance away.

I was still trailing behind about five or ten yards, and Abby, our 8-year old, was somewhere between us. She too was rightly freaked out by sight of the (rather large) coon, and immediately ran to my side and tucked her head. The raccoon was busy eating its recent find, and I just told Abby to stand very still. Since the trash can was up ahead of us on the right, I picked Abby up with my left arm, waited until the coon ducked back inside for something, and then ran quickly ahead passed it, carrying Abby, not looking back.

I'm obviously just a dad, but being a “Bible nerd” I thought of an Old Testament passage I'd seen before that describes a somewhat similar situation about God as a Father who carries us and is willing to fight for us:

“The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you... There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went..." Deut. 1:30-31

I love my kids SO MUCH, and to think that my feelings for them are somehow just fractional to how God looks at me, is one of those thoughts that my titanium-filled head can't handle!