Nicole was quiet. She was pretty and well-mannered. She had a few friends and got along with her classmates.
I have not seen Nicole since I taught her in my eighth grade English class.
One day during a conference with her mom, she said Nicole had not seen or spoken to her dad in seven years.
“That’s awful,” I said. “Does he live out-of-state?”
“No,” her mom said. “He lives two miles away from us.”
I couldn’t speak. I groped for words. Nicole lived day-to-day wondering why her dad was uncaring. He had a new wife and family, her mom said. But he never bothered to have any kind of relationship with his only daughter.
I wonder what Nicole thinks about God today. I wonder if she knows God, or ignores God and doesn’t care about Him. If she didn’t care about God today, I wouldn’t blame her. I can certainly understand why kids growing up with absentee fathers like Nicole’s think God is uncaring.
Those kids are a mission field white for the harvest.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6.
