"Our Father ..."

Music Playing 8, 5, 8, 9, 80, 8, 40, more than 65 million Americans right now are serving as a caregiver. Are you one of them? Do you take care of a parent with Alzheimer's? Do you have a special needs child? Do you have someone in your life who's had a severe trauma that's led to a chronic disability?

Are you in a relationship with somebody who's an alcoholic or an addict? There are all types of impairments. There's always a caregiver. Wherever you find a chronic impairment, there is a caregiver.

Somewhere in that orbit, this show is for that person. Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. And if the caregiver goes down, what happens to that loved one? And that is the point of this show is to help you stay strong and healthy as you take care of someone who is not. And I'm bringing now my 35 years of experience and counting as a caregiver for a wife with severe trauma from a car wreck she had many, many years ago. And 80 surgeries, both her legs amputated, over 100 doctors have treated her in 13 hospitals.

And it just keeps growing and doesn't show any signs of slowing down, right? So what have I learned through this? Quite a bit, actually.

Most of it the hard way. But that's what the show is for, is to strengthen you and strengthen myself along the journey, discussing principles that anchor us in truth, reality, and strength and comfort, and all of the above, because I believe that's where the fight is. We do every now and then swerve into caregiving tips, you know, some of the task of caregiving. But that's not really where the battle is. Where the battle is, is in our hearts, the fear, the obligation, the guilt.

It's what I call the fog of caregivers. And that's what we spend a lot of time going back to scripture and say, well, what does scripture say? And I usually pepper everything I do with a hymn and with a passage in scripture to kind of bring it all together here for this show. Now, if you want to, if you want to bring in a different topic than what we're talking about, that's okay.

It's all good. You know, but today was Father's Day weekend, and I thought I'd start off with some things about that. And I'm going to go to our hymn today. I'm going over to the caregiver keyboard and see if you know this hymn. If you know this hymn, give us a call.

888-589-8840. Hang on just a second. Sorry.

That's not COVID. All right. Here's our hymn for today. See if you know this hymn.

All right. That is our hymn for today. See if you know that hymn. 888-589-8840. 888-589-8840 if you know that hymn.

All right. Let's go to scripture here. This is Psalm 68, 5 through 6. And I'm going to read it in three different translations, okay?

I like to do that and try to get as much of the original meaning as I possibly can. And that is, a father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows is God in His holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely. This is Psalm 68, 5 through 6 in the message. Father of orphans, champion of widows, is God in His holy house. God makes homes for the homeless. And here it is in the ESV. The first one was in the NSAB, the new American Standard.

And this is the English Standard. Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home. Father's Day is complicated for a lot of folks.

I get that. I was blessed with an extraordinary father that is still alive, and I talk with him almost every day. He's been a great mentor and friend and a guide to me through some dark waters.

But I understand that a lot of people don't have that. I'd like to hear about your father, even if it is unpleasant, because it gives us an opportunity to go back into scripture and help us understand God as Father and what that means, what it meant, what Paul said that we could call him Abba, Daddy. For some people that is unthinkable because their father was so disappointing.

But God would embrace you as Father because He's not disappointing. So if this is something that is on your heart, if you're taking care of your father right now and you've got some unresolved issues about that, this is the time to talk about that. This is a safe place. We just talk about it. There's no wrong answer. There's just you and me talking.

Can we build each other up in this? 888-589-8840. 888-589-8840. And I love this scripture. Psalm 68, 5-6. Father of orphans, champion of widows, is God in His holy house.

He makes homes for the homeless. Are you an orphan? Do you feel like an orphan? Then today is for you. And I get that. Some days Father's Day is very difficult.

I mean, some years at Father's Day when it comes around, it's incredibly difficult for many people. And we're aware of that. Can we speak to it? More importantly, does scripture speak to it? Yes, scripture does. And whereas your earthly father may be frail, declining, or may have been a huge disappointment.

I'd like to spend some time today talking about your Heavenly Father, who is redeeming even that. I've met a lot of folks over the years, and I continue to be astounded of just how they struggle in their life with the father issue. And if you notice, our country is trying this – I don't even know what to call it – but there is an active movement in our country to marginalize the father. To make fathers, if you look at sitcoms, to make fathers look like buffoons.

They're just always about three steps behind. And to create an environment where father's not even necessary. And they're calling everything they can to toxic masculinity or whatever.

All these things. Anything they can to disparage the father. And maybe that comes from individuals whose lives were impacted or felt the impact of a poor father or an absent father. And so therefore they've grown up with a self-defense mechanism that says I don't need a father. Or I can look with derision at fathers. That is not the way it was designed. And a lot of fathers have abused or abandoned their role.

It's true, they have. But that is not the way it's designed, and it certainly does not reflect the heart of our father. And we can walk through some healing in that. And that's what we're going to talk about today. This is Hope for the Caregiver. This is the show for you as a family caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger, 888-589-8840.

888-589-8840. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver.

This is Peter Rosenberger. This is the show for you as a family caregiver. How are you feeling? How are you doing?

What's going on with you? This is the show for those pushing the wheelchair. This is the show for those doing laundry late into the night, back and forth to the doctor's office, back and forth to the pharmacy, holding down a couple of jobs, and looking up at the ceiling fan every night and wondering how in the world are you going to make this. This is the show for you. Bringing you 35 years of experience to offer you a lifeline to help you stay strong and healthy as you take care of someone who is not. If you want to be a part of the show, 888-589-8840.

888-589-8840. We started off with our hymn this morning. I know that I'm going over to the caregiver keyboard here. Going through these hymns like this every week is not exactly exciting and full of energy. Our lives as caregivers are full of excitement.

We need a quiet place to just kind of catch our breath a little bit. These hymns help me do this. I hope this has been as meaningful to you as it is to me to go through these hymns and see the greater truths in them. The hymn this morning… This is one that may be very, very familiar to some and others may have no clue. We had one lady call in and say it was, Oh God Our Help from ages past. Well, that was last week. That is not this hymn.

That's Oh God Our Help from ages past. So we're going to go to Patty in Iowa. Patty, and by the way, if you know this hymn and it's meaningful to you, even if somebody else guesses it, feel free to call in. And if you want to talk about your dad, if you have a good story about your dad, we want to hear it.

If you have a tough story about your dad and you're struggling with it and you just want to be able to tell somebody that, you know what? We want to hear that too. Okay. Let's go to Patty in Iowa. Patty, good morning. Good morning, Patty. How are you feeling? Well, I'm feeling pretty good.

Do you know this hymn? First off, you said you wanted a comment on last week's caller. So what was the comment you had on last week's caller? Well, I was just absolutely thrilled last week to hear Patricia call from Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Oh, I remember that. David and she had a daughter named Sheila.

Wasn't that a meaningful call? Anyway, many years ago in 1986, I was there in Florida visiting my sister. They went to the same church. My sister had taught in their Christian school. She was one of those who would come over to the house and sit with Sheila and give the parents sometimes the whole family break time. And she taught some of their four sons. In fact, the summer that I visited her, she was getting ready to leave for a summer working at a Christian camp in France. And they entrusted their teenage son, Jamie, into the care of my sister to go together on a Christian mission. Well, tell me this. Do you know the song?

Yes, I do. That's the Navy hymn, Eternal Father, strong to save. And it mentions those in peril on the wave. I have a couple uncles who were in the Navy in World War II. And my nephew was in the Navy and was on a frigate patrolling where the pirates were by Somalia. And my own father was in the Army Air Corps in World War II and was a tail gunner in a B-17, flew many missions over Europe and was stationed in England, helped invade Italy, was in North Africa.

But he flew about, I think, 35 missions over Europe. And he was a farmer. We grew up on a small dairy farm. And my father, there were six of us. And I can just, I can remember being with him out in the barn when he was milking a small, we only had about maybe 14, 15 cows in just a small farm, 147 or 8 acres, a lot of that woodlot. But he'd take me, he taught us all like the names of wildflowers. And when we were really small, we'd, if my mom couldn't get us to take a nap and we were fussing, he'd just take a child in his arms, even a baby on the tractor out in the field. And he'd leave with a crying baby and come back with a sleeping child. I can remember him singing, just kind of humming, carry a tune in a bucket.

That's okay. He was singing on a tractor. And then I remember him taking me out in the woods and teaching me the names of all the trees. Well, what a great memory of that. And when I had the measles and had to be in a dark room, I remember him reading.

Well, he was just a wonderful father. Well, that is very, that's a wonderful memory that you've shared. And I very much appreciate that Patty. I thank you so much for the call and I appreciate you getting that hymn.

Let's go to Esther in Kansas. Esther, good morning. How are you feeling?

Hi, Peter. I feel fine. Thank you.

Nice to hear your voice. Tell me what's on your mind. My father's on my mind. I just heard a few moments ago and I thought, there's so many people today whose fathers aren't part of the picture.

They're gone. And I don't think fathers realize what an impact they make on their children. I would like to say especially their girls, but I'm sure it's just as strong for the boys. But I think wherever our fathers leave us, whatever their opinion was of us, when they leave us, that's kind of what our opinion is of ourselves. And my father was my life. We traveled all over the country.

I belonged, I went to 27 schools in 27 states by the time I was in the ninth grade. And I loved it. We were such gypsies.

And the first place we'd go when we got into a town would be the local museum. I learned more about history. I learned more about everything from my dad than I probably would have in school. But he was just my hand in his everywhere we went.

I just adored him. So imagine, we'd just gotten to Tampa, Florida, and he called me into the car and he said, come here, I want to talk to you one Saturday morning. And I got in the front seat.

I'm 13 years old. And he says, I just wanted you to know this is going to be our secret. But I'm leaving today and you'll never see me again. And I remember the lump in my throat. I said, why? And he said, words that are indelible.

Because I'm so disappointed in you. And I remember I had on sandals and my legs were sort of stretched out in front of me in the front seat there. And I looked down at my toes and I remember the lump in my throat. And I couldn't say anything but just sort of whisper, why?

And I remember his other remarks, but they're not as important as those little little phrase because I'm so disappointed in you. I was a little girl who loved June Allison and Walt Disney. I was kidded in school because I was goody two shoes. I loved my little life. I loved animals and I loved God and I was a good little girl. I couldn't imagine what I had done.

I finally decided it was because I wasn't pretty. Well, anyway, we go back to our house. He told me, now you must never tell your mother. And we get back to the house.

He was supposedly going to Atlanta, Georgia on business and was going to be back on Monday. And mom was cutting lettuce at the kitchen sink and he walked up behind her and just kissed her on the neck and he said, so long Maggie. And he said, she said, drive careful, but you didn't look at him. And he walked past me and went out the front door.

We got in a red baseball cap. I remember as he went down the walk, I'm looking at him out the window. Dad gets in the car, which is parked at the curb.

And he leans down and he looks at me through the passenger side window and he just salutes, just touches the tip of the bill or his red baseball cap, like so long. And I just waved a little tiny wave. I could not believe my father was leaving just because I was not pretty. I couldn't tell my mother and when Monday came and dad didn't return, she and her sister lived next door to us. We had just moved there.

We had just been there about three months. They called all the hospitals, all the police, all of the sheriffs between Tampa and Atlanta, seeing if there were any highway accidents that had been reported. I couldn't tell them because I promised my dad I wouldn't tell. So mom had more or less a nervous breakdown. Nobody talked to me. No one said one word to me.

I sat in a chair in the corner and I watched the family fuss over mom and mom crying for days and days. Esther, hang on to that thought. We've got to take a little bit of a break. We're up against a hard break.

Can you hold on through the break? Sure. Sure.

This is Peter Rosenberg. This is Hope for the caregiver. We're talking to our fathers today. Sometimes it didn't go as well as we'd like.

We'll be right back. While in the emergency room with my wife as she was struggling with the COVID-19 virus herself, I looked at her. I said, are you scared? She said a little bit, but I've been through worse.

The certainty of mankind's history with uncertainty, an article by Peter Rosenberger. And then as her fever was approaching almost 103, she started singing in Christ alone. I place my trust and find my glory in the power of the cross. And that's how she has anchored herself in the certainty of Christ through her huge medical journey that has included 80 surgeries, both of her legs amputated, 100 doctors have treated her, 12 hospitals, and now the COVID-19 virus. And so when we live with those kinds of uncertainties, anchoring ourselves in Christ, in Christ alone, that's the only place we can run to where there is certainty.

To read this article and more visit afa.net forward slash the stand. Because with Jesus, I can take it. Oh, as Him, I know I can stand.

No matter what may come my way. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is the show for you as a family caregiver. 888-589-8840.

888-589-8840. If you want to be a part of the show, we're talking with Esther in Kansas who did not have a positive experience with her father at a young age. And it shows the power of fathers. Esther, can you get right to the point here? Because I've got a lot of calls and I want to give the time to your story, but where did this go after that?

That was laying the groundwork, and that was too long a lay. But the point is, I looked for my dad when I turned 19. I quit school. I didn't go back to school. And everyone was so busy with my mother, and my mother was so torn up, she didn't even notice. And so I sat in a back room and read books and listened to music for three years. I didn't want to go out. If I was that ugly, I surely didn't belong back in school.

Nobody noticed. It was so odd. But thank God for all the books, and thank God for the beautiful music. And I always knew God was with me, but where was Daddy? And so, when I turned 19, I went looking for him, and I found his brother in Indianapolis, found out he'd remarried and inherited a child that she already had. I don't think until I was 35 years old, I ever went a day without crying over Daddy.

Now, but here's cutting to the chase. For some reason, I've been so blessed with more opportunity than most people ever get in their lifetime. Just opportunities, opportunities all my life. And I would always stop short of taking the greatest opportunity. I was one time offered the position of President of Feature Films at MGM Studios. I was working there in other capacities. Marvelous opportunities most people never get.

I stop, and I will literally walk into a restroom, look in the mirror and say, you can't do that. They're going to find out that you're a phony. They're going to find out. All you do is disappoint them. And I've worked out on marriages. I've worked out on opportunities always with an excuse, another excuse. But I know in my heart of hearts, and I've never said this to anybody, but I'm listening to you, I said, you know what, if Peter will let me, I'm going to share this.

That, wherever, how is it? I think that when you're the person you think most of in your life, that you admire the most, whatever their opinion is of you, where they leave you in life is for the opinion you'll have of yourself. That could be a grandmother who believes in you, or it can be whoever. Whatever they think of you is what you think of yourself until you reach an evolution in yourself where you realize that your opinion of yourself matters too. And only then will you in some way be able to cope with it and rise above it and go on and do the best you can. But it never really goes away. To this day, I remember you were going to be... Well, Esther, the most important opinion of yourself is what does God think of you? Oh, that's what I was going to get at.

And I've got a block full of calls, I want to be able to get as many people in as I possibly can. No, that's okay because your story is important and it shows that we don't always have the Father in our life that we would wish, and the implications, and it reinforces the whole point that the implication of a godly father or an ungodly father can have long repercussions. What I want people to take away from my phone call is we can't do much about circumstances that happen to us when we're young. And it's difficult when it's imprinted, and it's so important. It's difficult to rise above it, but we can't use that as an excuse the rest of our life.

There has to be a point where we say, that's the deck I was dealt, and by thunder that was tough, but you know what? God bless him. I don't know what his problem was. That was a weak man, he was very young.

What were his problems? I don't know. So I say, God bless you. I've got a picture of him in my kitchen and I get that every day. God bless you, Pop.

I don't know what you went through, but it must have been awful. The point is, we have a Father who will never leave us. And I wrote a book, Evidence of God, and in the book I talk about, no matter what Father does to you, no matter what, you have a Father who will never leave you.

And you know what? My Father is his child, too. I can't judge my dad.

No, and we'll let God sort that out. He is a Father to the Fatherless, and that's the whole point of the Psalm that we read today. Esther, thank you so much for this call and for this reminder of the importance of, and how many are struggling with that concept of Daddy. And I thank you so much for the call.

Let's go to Beth in Alabama. Beth, good morning. How are you feeling? Good morning. I'm great. I'm doing great.

It was so interesting. I'm driving in the car actually from Alabama to Minnesota to go back to be a caregiver for my dad. And I am traveling in a car with a dog and two cats and a lot of stuff, and your radio show came on. And you know, I too didn't have like the perfect dad. I will always say to people, I go, well, my dad wasn't bad, but he just wasn't the dad that I thought, you know, that I would end up with.

He had a stroke about a year and a half ago, and he's been just kind of steadily going downhill with his health. And my mom has been the primary caregiver, and I went home about two months ago after they had a car accident, and God made it very clear to me that I would be coming back to help them, primarily my dad. And my husband and I had been in Alabama for the last year doing ministry work, and you know, we didn't really want to leave, and so our flesh was kind of fighting it, but God has laid it out in so many ways for me, showing me that it's time to go home and take care of the man that took care of me. Oh, I said I wasn't going to cry, but my dad... By the way, it's okay to cry here, okay? I am a crier.

That is okay. You know, my dad was a hard worker, and he worked so much that it didn't really leave room for a lot of relationship, and I'm kind of just the opposite. I mean, I love people, and I just, I can't wait to meet them. You know, I've never met a stranger.

I just want to connect with people. My dad didn't really have the time for that. He worked a lot, and I'm thankful for that. He gave me great work ethic and taught me a lot of things, which has allowed me now to do what I'm doing, which is ministry work, and that also allows me to come home and take care of them, and my husband will be following me shortly, but he's going to finish up some things in Alabama, but, you know, it's like Esther said and you said. It really, you know, this earthly father of ours, he's important, but it's more important to know what our Heavenly Father says about us and to walk in that, and you know, every day I wake up, and I'm so thankful, you know, that I have God. Now, the other really beautiful thing about my story is that about three months ago, my dad was in the hospital, and I heard it so clearly. I was talking to my sister, and she was so worried about our dad and his salvation, and as I was speaking to her, the Holy Spirit said, you need to call your dad right now, and I said to my sister, I said, I gotta go. I gotta call dad right now, and I called my dad in the hospital, and my dad's at 83.

He's kind of funny. He's checky, so he's got FaceTime, and I said, Dad, I said, I said, I really need to know that when I go to heaven, that you're going to be there to greet me, and that if I go before you, that I'll be able to greet you, and he's kind of fought salvation and fought that for years, but the Holy Spirit told me to call, so I did, and I said, Dad, I need to know that you have Jesus in your heart, and he said, yes, honey, I have Jesus in my heart, but I didn't get a check in my spirit about it, and I said, Dad, I need to know. I need to know that you have him in your heart. You know, I said, it's really important, and he said it again, and the second time he said it, I got that check in my spirit that he was good, that it was going to be okay, and so no matter what goes, no matter what happens from here forward, I get to know that my dad will be in heaven, and I'm just, I'm grateful. I'm just grateful for that, you know. Well, Beth, I appreciate that. That is a beautiful story, and it reminds me of, and by the way, thank you so much for the call.

I do appreciate that very much. A friend of mine, I do a care giver support group out here, and a friend of mine said this quote the other day. We live in the moment, but as believers, we have perspective in eternity, and that gives meaning to the moment. Now, some moments when we live in, we obsess in, or we freak out in, but as believers, we have the perspective of eternity, and that gives meaning to the moment. And so as we struggle with the things that we struggle with today, and as we do the things that we do, let us keep in mind the perspective of eternity, and that's why I wanted to do this hymn today, Eternal Father, strong to save, whose arm hath bound the restless wave. Now, of course, this is the Navy hymn, and a lot of this is in the context of the Navy and being on the sea and so forth, but think of the perspective of what this was about, whose arm hath bound the restless wave.

How many of you all have a restless wave in your life? Who bids the mighty ocean deep, its own appointed limits keep? O hear us when we cry to thee for those in peril on the sea. There's this broad statement of faith, broad statement of understanding God and His sovereignty over all of these things, even as Esther talked about her father that left her and did a terrible thing.

Quite truthfully, it was a wicked thing. But God is sovereign over that, His arm bounds that restless wave too. And He is a father to the fatherless, and He is a champion of widows, and He does make a home for the lonely. That is our God, our Father. This is Peter Rosenberger. We'll be right back.

Hey this is Peter Rosenberger. Have you ever helped somebody walk for the first time? I've had that privilege many times through our organization, Standing with Hope, when my wife Gracie gave up both of her legs following this horrible wreck that she had as a teenager and she tried to save them for years and it just wouldn't work out and finally she relinquished them and thought, wow, this is it. I mean, I don't have any legs anymore.

What can God do with that? And then she had this vision for using prosthetic limbs as a means of sharing the gospel, to put legs on her fellow amputees and that's what we've been doing now since 2005 with Standing with Hope. We work in the West African country of Ghana and you can be a part of that through supplies, through supporting team members, through supporting the work that we're doing over there.

You could designate a limb. There's all kinds of ways that you could be a part of giving the gift that keeps on walking at standingwithhope.com. Would you take a moment and go out to standingwithhope.com and see how you can give?

And they go walking and leaping and praising God. You could be a part of that at standingwithhope.com. Welcome back to Hope for the Kid, everyone.

This is Peter Rosenberger. This is the show for you as a family caregiver. We're glad that you're with us. If you like what you're hearing on the show and if the show is meaningful to you, would you get involved with it? You can go out and be a part of the prosthetic limb ministry that Gracie founded when she lost her legs. You can support the show, whatever you want to do.

Go out to hopewiththecaregiver.com today. We'll send you a copy of Gracie's CD for any amount that you want to support with. And if you still want, we're getting ready to ship out some stuff this week to Ghana. I talked to the prison and the inmates have it all boxed up and we're ready to go.

All these limbs that we've recycled. And if you still want to be a part of helping us ship all these things over to West Africa for one-time gift of $250, we'll send you my book, Gracie's CD and my CD, Songs for the Caregiver. We'll be glad to send you those just as a gift, just to thank you for that. And we hope you'll be a part of the show.

If you find what we're doing here is meaningful to you, we'd be glad to have you and welcome your help in supporting it. We've been talking about fathers and I did the Navy hymn today. Now, I did that for a reason because my father is in the Navy. I say he is, he's retired, but I think once you've been in the Navy for 30 plus years, you're still in the Navy.

In fact, going into his office at the house, it says Captain's Quarters. Dad's a captain, he's a chaplain, a long-time minister as well for 60 years. And he called into my show today. So we're going to end up the show today with my father. So, Dad, thank you for calling the show. I'm glad you listened to the show. Did you have a good time listening this morning?

I have. Thank you, Peter. What a great tribute you've given to me and I see it in your sons passing it on. Thank you for what you've done and what you're doing for the body of Christ. God bless you. Well, you helped train me and I'll throw that back at you. I did that hymn this morning for you that I know that's one of your favorite hymns, Eternal Father, Strong to Save.

Did you sing it while I played it? I think I'm overwhelmed. I'm humbled. Thank you for being there and for what you're doing for God's people.

Be encouraged. Well, let me ask you, you've heard some of the calls today and some of the stories about fathers were not that great. And did you, in your long ministry, I mean, you've been a pastor now for more than 60 years, you've seen the devastating impact when a father is not present in the home. And talk a little bit about that and how you've worked with people through that. I think one of the greatest moments I have is to see the father begin to take his place, his role in the family structure.

And to be able to speak with certain authority, but also in compassion and love. I think that the father, the prodigal son, had an enormous impact on how this played out in the family. And I thank you for giving opportunity for people to know what being a father really is in the moment that we have and how it's passed on. God bless you. Well, thank you, Dad, very much. And thank you for calling. You know, when Mom and Dad listen to my show, my audience doubles.

That's what I've been saying for years. They listen there in South Carolina, and happy Father's Day, Dad. By the way, did you have anything good to eat this morning yet, or are you still digging into what I sent you? No, it's right there on the counter.

It's just waiting. I won't tell you what I said, my father, but when you get to be 86 years old, there's only so many shirts and ties you could buy for Father's Day. So I try to be creative in sending things that are a little bit more tasty. But Dad has been a huge part of my life, and still is.

I think you've accomplished it. You don't have to send any more shirts today. No, I don't want to send any more shirts today, Dad. But I do appreciate the gifts that you give, but the gifts that you've given to me. Well, listen, Dad, it's small.

I did send a gift one time while I got you on the phone. But I have four brothers and a sister, and there's an awful lot of joshing that goes on when you have a family as big as ours. I put together a blanket for them some years ago, and I was able to go get pictures of all the family at the time. Now, the family's grown since then. Mom and Dad have 17 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.

It's quite a tribe that we have. But I'd sent a blanket, and it had pictures of all the six children and their spouses, and then all the grandchildren at the time, and their spouses, and then whatever great-grandchildren we had. And Mom and Dad seemed to like that a lot. It was just very meaningful to them. But I told all my brothers and my sister, I said, look, I've had a favorite child of the day today.

And I think they glumly conceded. But that was only for one day. Then it goes to Richard. The blessing of that is that we could put that blanket around us, and we really symbolize having a family that's cared for you, all of you connected. And the blanket itself is right where people can see it when they come right in the door. Well, I think the biggest testament to you guys is that we have a large family, and we all get along. We all like each other. I think that is a huge gift to me that you and Mom have provided, a place where we get along. I talked to all my brothers and my sister throughout the week, and we're scattered around the country, but we still spend a lot of time with each other and look forward to being with you. It's hard to get us all together.

That's quite a tribe you have, but we pop in on you periodically. But Dad, thank you very much for calling, and thank you for just being an amazing figure in my life. Eternal Father, strong to save whose arm hath bound the restless wave, who bids the mighty ocean deep its own appointed limits keep, O hear us when we cry to thee, for those in peril on the sea. How many services as your role as chaplain have you presided over in the United States Navy when you've heard that hymn, that wonderful hymn?

I think I've been in a lot of different places. I couldn't even begin to count the number of times on ship and with the Marines. You know, by the way, they put a fifth verse in that for the Marines.

Well, not for the Marines, for the pilots. I didn't know that. Did you know that? Yes, I did know that.

Well, I did not. But Lord, guard and guide the ones who fly through the great spaces in the sky, be with them always in the air in darkening storms or sunlight fair. And I thought that was a nice verse. It's not in a lot of the hymnals, but it's something that they put out there for it.

So because the hymn was written many, many years ago before we had pilots and so forth. But Dad, thank you so much for calling and just being there for, you know, you always take my call and that's the good news that you take my call and I'm very grateful for it. And you just bask in a great weekend. I wish I could be there with you, but I'll be there soon. I promise. We're very grateful.

Thank you again. Thanks, Dad. Well, that was my father. And I'm very grateful that he's in my life. And I've watched his ministry over the years and how he's connected with people. And I've also watched him share with folks the importance of fatherhood and help young men who were struggling step into that role as father.

I watched him do it. We had callers today that, you know, particularly one that was, it was not a good situation with her father and it left a lifetime of scars and implications for her. And there are a lot of young men out there who are overwhelmed in their role as father. And I would say to those young men that, yes, it is overwhelming.

It's very frightening. We've all been there. Those of us who are dads have all been there and feel woefully unprepared and unqualified.

But we have one who does prepare us, who does qualify us. And we draw on his strength and his love. And as Dad referenced the prodigal son, you know, really that whole thing is not about the prodigal son. It's about the father. He had one son that despised and took his inheritance and ran off and squandered it. But he had another son that despised him for being extravagant with the son when he came back.

And it was all about the love of the father. And that is the nature of our father in heaven. We don't get a vote on who our father is.

But we do have agency when it comes to trusting God in those dark times where we can't see. And some of you right now are taking care of your father at end of life issues, with end of life issues. And you have unresolved issues in that. Some of you are abused by your father.

And I understand that. And I know how you must weep hot tears on a day like today when we talk about fathers. But I would ask you to prayerfully consider that you do have a father to the fatherless. A champion of widows.

One who makes a home for the homeless. When Jesus taught us to pray, the first two words in that prayer, our father. Our father. They said, Lord, how do we pray? He said, our father.

Hang on to that throughout the day. And there's that wonderful hymn. This is my father's world.

Oh, let me never forget. And at the end though, the one verse that says, Jesus who died will be satisfied and heaven and earth will be one. All of these things that you've heard, callers who are struggling with fathers and so forth, all of that is being redeemed right in front of you. He who began a good work is faithful to complete it. And he is healing and will heal and can heal those places in your life that are broken. This is Peter Rosenberg and this is Hope for the Caregiver. We'll see you next time.