I'm not a father yet, but I praise God for my dad. He didn't teach me how to play sports nor take me to my first baseball game, though I love, play and watch sports and remember going to my first baseball game with friends (my first Dodger game was incredible!). He didn't teach me to exercise though I love to stay in shape or try too. No my dad wasn't the all American dad.
For one he was raised in Cuba, though many years ago he did become a citizen of this country. My dad was raised by my grandmother now sleeping in Jesus. His dad was a drunk that mocked him and for the most part never showed him what a true father was.
No my father never had a father that showed him love and obviously didn't show him how to ride a bike, fix a car, or throw a baseball. BUT he (my dad) was a father to me! Was he perfect? Of course not. As a grown man I look back in our journey and realize 'things' that could've gone better/different. Nonetheless he was a father to me. Though he struggled when he came to this country we always had food, a place to live, good clothes, and even got to travel a little.
No my father never had a father but he was a father to me and for that I'm eternally grateful. You see if it's one thing my father showed me is God. In his own way he (along with mom of course) set the foundation that would be part of me for the rest of my life and I would build and make my own.
That foundation, their ongoing support and love has always been something I've been blessed to have.
Yet allow me to tell you a quick story of my father:
I remember as if it was yesterday. My father received the news that his father had died in Cuba. I saw him go to his bedroom and begin to cry in the fetal position on his bed. The news to some extent wasn't shocking. My dad had known that his father wasn't doing well but traveling to Cuba was costly and overall no easy task. Nonetheless when the news came that his father had died it was like an arrow straight to the heart.
I had never before (I was about 9y/o when it happened) nor since seen my dad cry in that manner. It was a scene of intense emotional pain. My father I'm sure had all kinds of thoughts going through his mind, thoughts of anger, frustration, and love. Yes love.
In the midst of everything that my fathers father had not been to him, my dad still loved him.
Today I say Happy Fathers day to all dads. Thanks dad, that in the midst of it all you love me despite all of my mistakes as I grew up and the mistakes I've made as a grown man.
And thanks for showing me in part what God is like...
Javi
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