Coming Home On Father's Day

I sat in the officer’s patrol car while he verified my license and registration. He asked what I was doing out this late and where I was going. I told him I’d been visiting friends in Greenville and was on my way home to Kinston. He told me to slow down, spared me the ticket, and sent me on my way. I got back in my truck, breathed a sigh of relief, and began replacing everything I had pulled out of my glove box while searching for my registration. Not paying attention, I ran off the road, hit a sign, and ended up in a ditch. This was in the days before cellular phones, so I thought, “This can’t get any worse. I’m dead meat now.”

I sat there, wondering what to do, as I was still about 20 miles from home. In what seemed like forever, a car pulled up behind me. I thought, “Great, here’s my friendly police officer,” but luckily it was a friend of mine on his way home. He had a chain in his car, and he pulled me out. My truck had sustained some damage, but it was drivable. By the time I collected myself and got home, it was close to 3:00am.

My parents were up, and my mom was crying. She just knew something terrible had happened, and I braced myself for the onslaught I was about to receive. The onslaught turned out to be hugs of thankfulness and the instructions to get to bed, because we had church in the morning.

My parents had been on the lookout, anxiously awaiting my return, just as the father anxiously awaited the return of his son. Our Heavenly Father also awaits our return. Coming home to the Heavenly Father means turning the corner and finding him waiting, ready to run out and greet you.

Coming home to the Heavenly Father also means forgiveness awaits. Too many homes are bound by strife and tension and an inability to forgive, but thankfully, coming home to the Heavenly Father means forgiveness. When the prodigal son returned home, not only did he find forgiveness, but he also found restoration. His hope was to be treated as a slave, but he was restored to the family.

He was given a robe, which signified honor. He would not be treated as a slave; he would be restored as a son. He was given a ring, which signified authority. Signet rings were used to seal letters and important papers, and the giving of one’s signet ring to another was granting someone the power of attorney. He was also given shoes. Shoes were not given to slaves, but to family members. Each item that was given to the son served as a symbol that he was being restored to full status as a member of the family.

Coming home on Father’s Day means forgiveness, but not forgiveness as a favor, but forgiveness that involves complete restoration. President Lincoln was asked how he was going to treat the rebellious southerners when they had finally been defeated and had returned to the Union of the United States. The questioner expected that Lincoln would take a dire vengeance, but he answered, “I will treat them as if they had never been away.” Our Heavenly Father treats us the same way when we come home. He anxiously awaits us and offers forgiveness that promises complete restoration, as if we’d never been away.