Someone once asked a young boy if he knew what Father’s Day was.  He simply replied, “Yeah, it’s just like Mother’s Day, but it doesn’t cost as much.”  Someone else once mentioned that fatherhood is carrying pictures where your money used to be (this before the days of smartphones, of course!).  Regardless of how you define it, this weekend is an opportunity to express your love and honor to your dad.  There is much I could write today about that.  For some, it’s the blessing of having a loving, hard-working, and godly father, and for others, it’s the burden of a father who let them down or may not know the Lord.  I have talked with people who couldn’t say enough good things about their fathers and those who wept with a broken heart over the wayward lifestyle of their dads.  But let’s focus for a moment on the scripture in Romans 8:15: “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”  I encourage you to take some time this weekend to meditate on the glorious truth of your relationship with the Heavenly Father!  Freedom from bondage and fear.  Through the grace of adoption, family ties with the omnipotent Creator and loving God of the universe.  Someone to whom we can cry out when we fall and experience the skinned knees of life.  And then there’s His name…”Abba, Father.”  It is a title created from the word for “father” in two different languages; but its meaning exudes a warmth, closeness, and security that we have in Him, yet often fail to embrace in all its fullness.  So this weekend whether you spend time with your dad, simply remember the times you had with him, or perhaps even grieve because of what you wish could have been, be sure to lift your eyes and your heart toward Heaven in thanksgiving and whisper, “Abba, Father.”