Most of you who knew my Dad, knew that he did not believe automobiles should come equipped with brakes.

They were simply not needed most of the time, especially when it came to driving over pot holes in the road. He would drive right over them, never braking or slowing down.

Our bones were thoroughly rattled by the time we reached our destination. I remember asking Dad one day, as we were out driving, what those holes he kept hitting so often were called.

He laughingly told me they were called "Chug Holes". I very seriously responded to his answer with the very best 4 year old query of my own, "Daddy is that where Chugs live?"

My father loved to tell this story often, much to my teenage years' embarrassment, but now I can think back on it and chuckle, because I recognize that same attitude I had for my Dad, was one my children have now for my husband and myself.

I believed everything my Father told me, when I was young, as my children now believe me, when I tell them something. I believed my Father would tell me the truth of a matter, always, and right up until his death, if I asked Him his opinion on what he felt was the right thing for me to do in certain situations, he would tell me.

He was almost always right. All my children have to know

is that if Mommy or Daddy said it, then it would be so, no ifs, ands, or buts. I have known children to get into fights over statements their Father had made to them.

I had total faith in my Father and in his ability to take care of and provide for me no matter what obstacle might rear it's ugly head to challenge this faith. Dad knew that I had faith in him, too, and he never let me down.

I know it's so easy to tease our youngsters and tell them that the color purple is really brown, or that a cow is really a horse, or some such nonsense, and have them to believe it. But what happens when they find out that Dad or Mom has let them down? Everything Mom or Dad said wasn't true... It is sometimes quite disturbing for smaller children to realize that Mom and Dad aren't quite perfect. We're still a 'work in progress," as the popular slogan states.

Children do not recognize 'works in progress" unless it's themselves. And if they find out that being a work in progress is an excuse, we'd better look out! We don't want a 'work in progress God, either"!

When we have a problem, we want answers from our God, right now! Answers from our God that knows exactly what we need and how to help us and when best to give it to us.

Yes..., I really thought my Dad could walk on water! It will be my great pleasure to one day watch him do that very thing!

In the meantime, since my physical father has died, I must rely on my Spiritual Father. He has left me His Word to rely upon. Can I really 'bank" on what it says?

Do I have absolute faith that God means what He says? Will He keep every word of His Word as the truth?

The Bible says that God will never leave us, and he will never forsake us. Joshua 1:5 states "No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you."

The Bible also says that God is the same yesterday and forever.

We should believe our Heavenly Father. He has left His Word with us to get to know Him better. Do we take His Word literally, and believe every word just exactly as He says? All too often, I have inserted my own "opinion" of what I thought He said, or swayed the verse in my favor by reading more into it than what was really there!

All too often when a man says his word is as good as his bond, we should get the bond instead. But God is not like that. He is faithful.

Psalm 28:7 reads: The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song.

I take great comfort in knowing that my God, the Father will be there for me, and no matter what situation I find myself in, He will be there.

John 6:35-40 I am the bread of life, He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me… that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

Hallelujah!