The 20 year old dad at the cafe

My job consists of me driving around from cafe to cafe, finding wifi and designing websites. Normally I won’t witness anything enthusing. In fact, on more than one occasion I’ve heard people brag about their partying over the weekend and how drunk they got. Another time I heard two people talking about their marital problems, and long story short they were having an affair with one another (if you’re a guy, don’t be stupid and go to a woman for counselling, go to your pastor or an older man). Anyways, these are the kinds of conversations that are predominant in cafes(at least the ones in my area).

Today, I witnessed something beautiful. As I was sitting down working on a website, I saw a young 20 year old guy with his 1 or 2 year old daughter.  He was talking to her and was telling her how much he loved her, how precious she was to him. He had an ice cream cone that he was sharing with her and she was getting very sticky as she was licking it. She had ice cream all over her face. But he couldn’t stop kissing her. He would take the napkin and wipe her face and share more ice cream with her and then, he kissed her again. I started tearing up as I witnessed this love. I’m not sure if it was the day I had or the coffee I drank but there was something incredibly powerful happening right before my eyes. A young dad, taking responsibility to love and care for his little daughter. Even as I write this and recollect my thoughts, tears are brought to my eyes.

God showed me two things through this divinely ordained moment he let me witness. 1 – Our world has hope. There are young men who aren’t spending all their time playing video games, looking at porn and living in their parents basements. There are young men out there who see their God-given responsibility and take that call seriously. I don’t know if that guy was a Christian or not, but by the way he expressed patience and love towards his daughter, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was one. 2 – This is a tiny little glimpse of God the Father’s love for his children. Even though we make mistakes, make ourselves sticky, and disobey our Dad, He continually pursues us and cleanses us from our sin. In fact, He loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son to die for our sins, absorbing the punishment that we all deserve. In Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, we are now brought into an unconditional loving relationship with God, and nothing can separate us from that, no matter how sticky we get.