One of the greatest joys in my life is that both of my daughters know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They have all the same struggles that all followers of Christ have in their daily lives, but there are glimpses of “getting it right” that I see on almost a daily basis. My girls are different, very different, in how they relate to the world around them. They are also very different in how they relate to their dad. They both have the innate ability to manipulate me in the way that I assume all little girls can get whatever they want from daddy. (I doubt it is manipulation when I know what they are doing and I want to give them what they want, additionally, to the world they are not little girls anymore since they are 22 and 18 respectively, but I still see them as they were in the picture above.)

Last Tuesday (11/10) was one of those days that gives a parent hope that their child actually truly understands and embraces the reality of what Christ has done for them. Both girls had situations in the context of their day lives where they had to explain to someone else the problem of evil in this world.

Jessica, my oldest, has a life-long friend who is having marital problems, who recently experienced a miscarriage as well. In the process of ministering to her friend and her husband about the gospel and why their marriage is worth saving, she was asked why God allows so much suffering in this world. It is a valid question considering what this couple has gone through with the loss of their baby. This is where my relationship with her is completely differently from my relationship with her sister. Jessica and I rarely sit down together and talk theology. Jessica is a doer. Her passion is not reading and discussing theology or philosophy, she just gets involved in life. She has sat in a few of classes where I have taught theology and listened, allowed it to soak in, processed it, and then went to work, which brings us to her response to her friend. We were driving home from an evangelism class, which I teach in our church’s free seminary program that her and her boyfriend attend, when she shared her conversation with me. As I listened, I couldn’t help but be proud of how well she answered her friend. She didn’t give some theoretical, philosophical musing about how God wants everyone to be happy and well but that man in his free will chooses things that are not really what God desires for them, which is sadly how many Christians answer the question. She shared the gospel with her friend. She shared about sin and how Jesus’ work on the cross has handled the problem of evil. She was more concerned about her friend’s eternal destiny rather than making her feel better for the moment. She does want her to feel better because she loves and cares for her, but her friend need to understand all of what the gospel entails, not just that Jesus loves her and wants her to be happy. God is sovereign and ultimately in control of all that happens, which is our transition into her sister, Haley’s experience.

Haley is a student at Wayne State University, studying Anthropology. She currently is taking an introductory Philosophy class. On Monday night around 10 pm, she popped her head in my office and asked me what I knew about Glaucon and his theory about why people do justice. I replied that I didn’t know anything about him (I am grateful that she believes that her dad has extensive knowledge about ancient Greek philosophers and what they all taught, but I don’t). She sent me the article from Plato’s Republic, which I did not receive until Tuesday morning before I took her to school. I printed it out, figured I would read it while she was at school, then I could help with her assignment when she came home and over the next few days. On the way to school, I found out that it was due that day. After class that day, Haley and another student had the opportunity to spend 45 minutes with their Philosophy professor, which I imagine was difficult because I hear that he is so good-looking that he’s beautiful, plus he has an English accent, but he is an atheist. Haley was able to share with him, her view regards good and evil, God, and the problem of evil. According to her, he listened, shared with her where he saw problems, and allowed her to share with him the sovereignty of God and how man’s will works within that framework. She shared this with me as we worked together on her assignment on Tuesday afternoon.

Both of these experiences in my daughters live’s happened on the same day. I’m so thankful that God has blessed me with these two girls. It is such a privilege to be their dad, to have uniquely different relationships with them, and to observe how they interact with the world.

I love you girls.