The Latest "Goodbye Daddy"

This week Phyllis and I took our daughter Stephanie to JFK airport in NYC for her trip to Spain where she will spend a semester studying in the city of Seville. She has been very excited about this trip and has been working on it for months. But for Dad, it was a very bittersweet moment as we hugged her, watched her get through security, and then walk up the steps, turn andwave one last time, and walk out of view. For all of the sermons I have preached on Christian parenting (parents, God has given us our children and we are stewards who are raising them to become adults who will follow Jesus on their own) and the hours of counseling I do with parents who are struggling with their own teens (you have to decide what battles are worth fighting, don't smother your kids, etc.), it is still hard saying goodbye and letting go. She is, and always be, the only girl who can call me "Daddy." I have two sons who I love just as much, and Paul is away at college. But he is only 6 hours away, and I know if I needed to get to him in an emergency, I can jump in the car and get there quickly. The protective instinct just seems to be different when it is your daughter, and she is an ocean away in a country where I can barely speak the language. Add to this that she just turned 21, is in love with a guy (he is a good catch, but this is MY daughter we are talking about), and you have a dad who is feeling bittersweet as he watches his little girl be the independent young woman living for Jesus that he helped raise her to become. So, pastor and counselor, it is time to remind myself of all that I have preached, counseled, read in God's word, and wrestled with God in prayer about as my kids have been growing up and come to Him again in prayer. I need to talk to Him about my mixed emotions, my conflicting desires to keep my kids close but wanting them to live their lives as He leads them. And I need to enjoy reading her blog, skyping with her and Paul, exchanging emails, and enjoying the extra time I can spend with Andrew, along with the extra time Phyllis and I can spend together as we prepare for an empty nest in the next few years.