This is reposted from esthernina.com

Sunday, 16 June 2013

 

 

Rebekah Ann is so polite. She always raises her hand when she has a question. When I tell people about Rebekah, I almost always get the same question: "Is this your first?" It depends on the day, but I usually say something like, "No, we had another daughter who was born early and didn't live very long." Sometimes I just don't have the time or the energy and I try to dodge the question.

 

So the question remains: "Am I celebrating my first Father's Day as a father?" How do I answer this one? Father's Day never occurred from the time of Esther's conception until her death. But I had been a father for almost seven months including the two hours and thirty-six minutes between her birth and death.

A little over four months ago our dear friends buried their term stillborn daughter. And tomorrow, a dear family in our church will bury their 23 year old son.

Why so much talk about death on Father's Day. Because death always leads to so many more questions. One day Rebekah will raise her hand again and ask about why her big sister is not with us. Where is she?....

 

But really there is only one question that HAS to be answered:

"IS GOD GOOD?"

I thank God that He has revealed Himself to me enough to be able to say in all circumstances, I can give a very emphatic YES!

 

I would like to share with you this message and testimony from Bob Dutko , a radio talk show host on WMUZ in Detroit. This is recorded from a Sunday service where he spoke at my former church, Christian Celebration Center in Midland, MI. He shares his experience with the death of a child and more articulately than we could ever do, expresses some of things that we have tried to communicate through this website.

 

The whole message is good, but the specific part to which I refer begins at 28:23.