Dad and I memorized Lamentations 3:22-23 together, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassion never fails, it is new every morning- great is His faithfulness.” 

There is a hymn called “Great is Thy faithfulness.” We would recite these verses and sing this song—well, I mostly sang, and Dad listened. One of the lines says, “there is no shadow of turning with Thee.” We would pause over this line, and I would ask Dad what he thought this line meant in his life and how he sees God’s faithfulness. A whole world of conversation would open just based on these verses and this song. I loved to ask Dad questions like this. He delighted in this kind of conversation. 

Dad loved the image of God’s faithfulness, His stability, with no shadow of turning, His compassion that never fails. I think Dad’s upbringing with a chaotic father required him to set aside images of a punitive, mercurial, faithless image of God. He and I often discussed how certain Christian churches love to gravitate toward God as a punitive and angry Father. A belief that propels earthly fathers to be punitive, reactive, distant, and more concerned with rules than with relationships. I love my Dad’s work to strive against this destructive propensity and instead work to reflect the image of compassion, faithfulness, and great love.

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,

 for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

    great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;

    therefore I will wait for him.”

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,

    to the one who seeks him;

it is good to wait quietly

    for the salvation of the Lord.”  

– Lamentations 3:22-26

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