Each year, in mid-September I take (what my wife calls) my “Brother Trip” to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to attend a car show. We drive our motorcycles in on Thursday and stay until Sunday. My brother, Jon, drives up from Georgia. My other brother, Steve, and I meet him around dinner time. We all take our time getting to Pigeon Forge to enjoy our time on the back roads which we all love exploring. You could say we are a lot like our dad in that respect. Dad (Kent) could make a day trip out of a two-hour Blue Ridge Parkway trip. He and my mom enjoyed those adventures and that enjoyment carried over to my brothers and me.

My dad shared a love of the mountains, a love of cars (especially Ford Falcons) and a love of our Savior that lives within us to this day. We grew up watching dad restore cars. He put a lot of love and elbow grease in those restorations. We also saw him minister to people in our Church and to those in our community. It was not uncommon to see him go out late at night to help those who simply needed an ear to listen.

In many ways, this Scripture reminds me of the relationship my dad has with us boys. God entrusted mom and dad with four boys to raise and I know that dad spent much time on his knees praying for and over us. He made sure that we knew who Jesus Christ is. He also made sure that we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are loved by Christ much more than even he could ever love us.

Now, thinking about the relationship my dad had with us boys, let’s dive into John 17: 6-8. To truly understand this Scripture, we need to look at it in its context. Chapter 17 is a prayer that Jesus is praying to God. In verses 1-5, Jesus is praying for Himself. In verses 6-19, He is praying for His Disciples. Then in verses 20-26, He is praying for the believers who will hear the apostles and will go on to be His Church.

In verse 6, Jesus says that He has “manifested” God’s name to the Disciples (the ones God gave Jesus). These belonged to God first then God gave them to Jesus. Then Jesus goes on to say that these men kept God’s Word. The Greek word for manifested is phaneroo, which means to render apparent, appear or manifestly declare. Warren Wieirsbe says this about verse 6: “I have manifested thy name” means “I have revealed the nature of God.” “ … Gradually, by His words and His deeds, He (Jesus) revealed to them the nature of God, as they were able to bear it.” In other words, Jesus spelled out who God was loud and clear just as my dad did for us. Then in verse 7, Jesus goes on to say that since Jesus spelled out who God is, the apostles could now grasp the concept that everything Jesus has is from God. All of Jesus’s character comes from God the Father.

In verse 8 Jesus prays “they have believed.” By saying this, the Son of God affirmed the genuine saving faith of His apostles. At this point, the apostles have the faith and belief needed to go out and make disciples of those they encounter. Being a “fly on the wall” to the Savior’s prayer must have been incredible.

Similarly, I know that when I heard my dad praising me saying that he felt I was ready to do something without him, whether working on cars or planning an excursion for our youth group, this gave me a huge boost of confidence. Since dad thought I was ready — I was ready!!!

In His prayer, Jesus tells His Father that the apostles were ready to go and do what Jesus had been preparing them to do throughout his three-year ministry — to make disciples and declare His kingdom to all people. Personally, I want Jesus to consider me ready to do what His Word requires of me. I want to minister to those who teach kids because this has been my heart for 30 years. I want to minister to those families that are in the middle of addiction crisis so that maybe they don’t have to experience what our family has experienced. I want to minister through music because God has blessed me with the ability to transfer what I hear to the keyboard. I want to continue to speak life and love into the lives of those I meet so they will see the Father in me just as I see my dad in my brothers and me.