Just the other day, my youngest daughter and I bonded while I pushed her on the swing. The weather was ideal. It wasn’t hot. There weren’t any bugs bothering us. We just stayed in the backyard swinging for about an hour. I pushed her, and she was swinging.

As I pushed her on the swing, she was smiling and laughing. As she was cutting-up, I was talking to her.

This is how it went:

-“Lili, it feels nice outside, doesn’t it?”

-“Do you like swinging?”

-“Lili, you know, I love you! I am so happy to be your daddy!”

(To all of this, she is just laughing and not really saying anything)

-“You know, God gave you to me. I don’t know why He let me be your daddy, but I am so glad He did. I love you so much!” “Your mom and I love you a lot!”

-“Lili, you know what else? Jesus loves you too. He loves you a lot. He loves both of us. He loves our family. He forgives us of our sins. He will forgive us of all our sins.”

-“And Lili, I want my love for you as your daddy to show you how much God loves you.”

It was truly a special moment for the two of us. We were both so happy. We were both smiling and laughing a lot. We bonded that day in that moment!

I told the full story at the close of my sermon on Sunday. You can listen to it here. (The whole sermon is 43 minutes. But you can here this story beginning at the 39:45 mark.)