Restoring a Relationship
For thirty-three years there was no contact between a father and son. It was a complete cutting of ties. “I erased my father from my life for the things he did and the things I hated him for” explained Lee Jordan. But the rift that began in 1986 ended last week, and the only explanation for why, is God’s grace.
Lee pointed to a very distinct moment four years ago that it became clear he needed to fix the brokenness. It was the conversation in the car with his friend riding to and from a Chets Mens Retreat that began softening his heart toward his father. Until that moment, “even the thought of being around him was too toxic to consider,” said Lee.
As time went on, things would be said in sermons, or during discussions in LifeGroup, and as he studied scripture on his own that pointed toward a need for reconciliation. “In my devotion time, I would have this nagging” he recalled. He knew something had to change, but still he resisted.
Lee and his wife Beth make it a priority to pray together each morning and the relationship had made its way to their prayer list. That’s when Beth heard Eddie Hatcher’s story. During a women’s Bible study on prayer, Eddie shared of his estrangement from his father and the power of prayer in his own life. When Beth shared Eddie’s story with Lee, he knew it was time to take steps toward healing the relationship with his own father.
Lee said he met up with Eddie who talked with him, pointed to God’s word, and asked, “Are you willing to reach out?” Lee knew that the ongoing debate between him and God about why he should or shouldn’t reach out to his father was over. He found his father on LinkedIn and sent an email asking if they could meet up and his dad agreed.
Last week, Lee drove to meet up with his father. In the car ride over, Lee said God revealed something to him. “As loud and clear as I’ve ever heard Him in my life, I heard God say, ‘Why are you doing this begrudgingly? I asked you to give up the one thing on your altar that you said no to, and now you’re closer to me than you’ve ever been.”
In his brokenness, Lee had to rely on God to help Him to what he never thought he could. “I experienced the idea of extending the grace and love that’s been extended to me,” said Lee.
When Lee and his father reunited, they spent hours talking and even hugged at the end of their time together. “There is nothing that surprises those who know me more than me reconciling with my father,” said Lee. He’s been able to have conversations with friends about what it means to surrender everything to Jesus.
“We need to be willing to share brokenness, it’s the most attractive thing that draws others to Jesus. Brokenness is what unites us.” And Jesus Christ is the only one who can heal us from that brokenness.