John 20:27-28 (ESV) He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
As a boy, I learned to pray by standing at the front window of our home—waiting for my father to come home from work. “God, I pray that my daddy doesn’t drink too much before coming home from work tonight.” My father’s attitude and personality would radically change when he spent time at the county-line bar. I doubted that my dad could change; he’d struggled with alcohol addiction since his father died when my dad was only fourteen years old. Yet, even with his deep flaws and struggles, I knew my daddy loved me.
Later, at the culmination of several family crises, my dad lost his good-paying job and had to take some work in the Florida panhandle. My dad lived in Florida for a season and sent his paycheck home to my mother. My dad’s childhood friend owned a small excavating business and served as a part-time pastor at a Pentecostal church. When my father jumped off of the backhoe every day at sunset, the Pentecostal preacher told my dad that he needed to “get saved” and “let the Holy Ghost work a change” in his life.
My home address was Route 10, Box 12, Jasper, Alabama. Our driveway was a long and winding gravel road. Mother drafted me to go and fetch the mail each day. When I opened the mailbox, I saw the letter on top was addressed in my father’s barely-legible handwriting. I tore open the envelope with great enthusiasm and pulled out a Polaroid picture. What I saw in that surreal photograph is burned into my memory. My dad was standing in a swimming pool beside that Pentecostal preacher—shimmering streams of water running down from his hair; at the bottom of the picture, he had scribbled the words: “My baptism.” After the Easter services at that little Pentecostal church, my dad prayed to trust Jesus Christ as his Savior.
My father came home from Florida a changed man. I would love to tell you that my dad made an immediate about-face in his behaviors and choices. The transformation my dad experienced was saving grace from God. Over time, my father became a regular attendee of Westside Baptist Church in Jasper, Alabama. On occasion, his irreverent humor—something that he’d developed in the Marine Corps—would surface. Even so, Jesus was faithful to disciple my father through the Word of God, the fellowship of the local church, and the guidance of a faithful pastor. My father died in 2005 and is now present with Jesus Christ in glory. He was proud of me for becoming a pastor and church planter; he was equally proud of his other son, who worked in the construction industry.
I should have never doubted that God could change my dad. This Easter, I will stand in awe of the transforming power of Jesus Christ. Like “Doubting” Thomas, I see the wondrous work of the Risen Savior in redeeming fallen people and say, “My Lord and My God!”
Don’t give up praying for the lost, hurting, and broken. Easter is the perfect time to share the Gospel and invite someone to worship at your church.