The Role My Faith Plays

When Alicia and I first started raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF), I was more than a little confused. Not at the process, for that is so easy! CFF has made everything very easy to get to, get involved with, and to be a part of. No, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that there was no Christian version of the CFF.

Because Alicia and I support Christian missionaries and our local church, pretty much all of our money given to charity is given to spiritual things. So, how was I now to ask people to give to a non-spiritual thing? Not only was there no Christian version of the CFF, but there was no reason to start one! What could be done with money raised by a Christian CFF except to give it to the secular one! The one doing all of the research!

I was perplexed, until I spoke with my chaplain about it. He made a few things clear:

1. I was called to be a father before I was called to be anything else. My primary duty is to take care of my family.
2. Taking care of my family meant showing my daughter Samantha that I would go to the ends of the earth, if possible, to save her life. This would prayerfully lead to her understanding more about how much the heavenly father cares about her.
3. Saving her life will only come about by prayer and through the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

This isn't an attempt to explain away my support of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I believe wholeheartedly in what they do, and I believe that God can use them to save my daughter, if he wills it.

And I believe, most importantly, that he can use fundraising for a cure to let me show my daughter the love of a father...just as my heavenly Father has shown me his love. Above all, I want Sam to understand this. Raising money on her behalf for better treatments and hopefully a cure is maybe the most powerful step of action I can take to show her the same action God took to cure the problem of sin for us when he sent his Son.

So we'll continue giving to our local church, and we'll continue giving to the CFF. I will happily continue raising money for the fight against cystic fibrosis because I'm a dad...it's my job and my joy.