"Daddy, are you ever coming back?" With these words ringing through my mind, I kissed my wife, Cris, goodbye and headed south from my home in Indiana to North Carolina.

This question was from my 8-year-old daughter, Hannah, who had come to us as a foster child some 11/2 years earlier. Now I was headed to a new job in North Carolina in advance of the family. I was going ahead to start the new job and to find a place for all of us to live. Cris and I were in the process of adopting Hannah and her brother Cory. The adoptions were to take place in about 2 months. Meanwhile Cris was staying behind to sell our house in Indiana and to make sure the adoptions remained on track.

On my drive down I was thinking how terrible that a child had to ask if her Daddy was ever coming back. In her short life she had seen many men come and go in her life. I was grieved that after 11/2 years of living with Cris and me, she had to ask this question. Had our love and devotion to her not been enough to show her that we were a family and would always be there? What more could I have done to show here my love and help her to have the assurance that I would always be there for her?

Suddenly my mind flashed to the scriptures and Christ telling us, "In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know." Christ was assuring us that he would return and take us back with him. In my life how many time had I asked, either in my actions or my deed, "Are you ever coming back?" Have I quit looking for my Lord's return? Have I let the cares of this world distract me from looking for his return?

There is a poem entitled "Footprints in the Sand."

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes of his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonged to him, and the other to the Lord.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it had happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered the man and he questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me."

The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."

In this poem we are told that when we are too weak to go on, Christ was there to carry us. No matter how bad the trial or the sufferings we are going through, Christ is ever present, never leaving us nor forsaking us. It is at these times that He is the closest to us. What more could do to show us His love and that He would be there for us?

He answered this question when He gave His life on the cross that I may dwell with Him eternally. After the resurrection as He ascended into Heaven the angels promised that He would return.

As in the story of the ten virgins waiting for the appearance of the Bridegroom, so we must continually wait and watch for the Lord's return. Else when He returns we will be like the five foolish virgins who grew weary with the wait and were caught unaware when the Bridegroom appeared.

Just as I was grieved that my daughter has to ask if I would ever return for her, surely my Heavenly Father must be grieved because I have asked this question to Him. Just as I have shown my love for my daughter and thought she knew my love for her, God has shown me his never ending love.

Just as I have faithfully been preparing a place for my family, my Heavenly Father had been preparing a place for me. And he will come again to take me with Him that where He is, there I may be also.

Written by Charlie DeHart