Then one night as you lie awake in your bed, you actually hear him creeping down the hall. You run out, as fast as you can, hoping to catch him before he drives away, just to tell him one last time that you love him and finally get to say good-bye. As you come tearing into the kitchen, to your amazement, there he sits, as calm as a deer, looking down at you with those love-filled eyes. There you stand in the quietness of the night, a loving father and his adoring daughter. One last hug and its time to go. Little did she know this would be the first and the only night that she would get to say good-bye. As he drove away, a peace fell over her, so happy that she finally got to say good bye, she slowly drifted into a wonderful sleep.

In the peacefullness of the night, she is abruptly woken by a panic stricken mother. She is taken to a friend's house and left, left to wait and wonder. What is going on? Why was everyone so worried? Why won't anyone tell her what is happening? There, by herself, she sits, waiting, wondering. Soon the news comes. Her father, whom she treasured so dearly, had been taken, like that! The love that she so warmly felt the night before was the last that she would feel again. For there is none who can replace the bond of a father and a daughter. So excited to say goodbye, not realizing that it was the last.

Now this girl was left to wonder, what if I didn't say goodbye? The sleepless nights to follow, wondering how she could go on without the love of her father to warm her every thought and to sooth her every pain were excruciating. Who could ever replace that bond? Fathers are a treasure, this I now know, for when the one that you hold so dearly is stripped away, you realize it! Now as I sit and think back to those sleepless nights, wondering if I could go on, I am reminded of the promise that God is "a father of the fatherless" and he will never leave us nor forsake us! Oh the graciousness of our Father! To love such a one as me!