A little boy was standing on the banks of the Mississippi River waving and shouting at a steamboat that was going by. He was beckoning the steamboat to come to shore.
A stranger came by and said, “That's foolish young man. The boat will never come ashore for you. The captain is too busy to notice your waving and shouting.”
Just then, the boat turned and headed for shore. The little boy grinned and said to the stranger, “The captain is my daddy.”
The captain of the universe is our Abba. He's our daddy. He pays attention to our petitions because he loves us. The first words in the Lord's Prayer encourages us to call him, "Father." He is the Lord of the universe as well as our daddy, but that doesn't mean we should take him for granted any more than we should take our dads for granted. Thank you, Father.