A true father will always be there for you!

In the 1989 earthquake in Armenia over 30,000 people were killed in less than four minutes. In the midst of all the confusion a father rushed to his son's school. When he arrived. he discovered the building was completely flattened.

Standing there the father remembered a promise he had made to his son: "No matter what, I'll always be there for you!" Tears began to fill his eyes. It was a hopeless situation, but he couldn't put his promise out of his mind.

Remembering that his son's classroom was in the back right corner of the building, the father rushed there and started digging through the rubble. Other grieving parents called out to him saying: "It's too late!", and "There's no way they could have survived". Even a police officer and a fire-fighter tried to dissuade him, but he continued digging for his son stone by stone.

He dug for eight hours, then twelve, then twenty-four, and then thirty-six. Finally in the thirty-eighth hour, as he pulled back a boulder, he heard his son's voice. He called out his son's name, "Armand!" and the boy answered him: "Dad?" "Yes it's me, Dad!"

Later the boy said: "I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you would save me and that they'd also be saved. I told them that you promised 'No matter what, I'll always be there for you!' And here you are Dad. You kept your promise!" (source unknown)

Faithfulness, care and self-sacrifice are the kind of traits that should be synonymous with fatherhood. Not least because our heavenly Father is always there for us. He keeps His promises!

Dr Keith Graham