At first, Rob's friends thought he was avoiding them. They'd ask him to go somewhere and he'd say, "Sorry, I can't." Eventually he told them why he couldn't go. He had something much more important to do. He would just say, "I've got to go to my meeting." Not too many teenagers would choose going to a meeting over going with their friends, but Rob made a good choice. See, Rob is a teenage drug addict, and he's being rehabilitated through a 12-step program modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous. One important key to fighting his problem is attending that support group meeting several times a week.

A few months ago he went back to cocaine. He had stopped going to the meetings. Actually, all of us addicts, like you and me, will only make it if we make the meetings.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Meeting Jesus, Daily Light."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Mark 1. I'm going to begin reading at verse 35, as we get a look inside some of the intimate side of the life of Jesus Christ. It says, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed." Simon and his companions went to look for Him. And when they found Him, they said, 'Everyone is looking for You.' Jesus replied, 'Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.' So He traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons."

Now, in this passage, Jesus is doing what He does repeatedly in the gospels. He is modeling the highest priority of a busy schedule. And here is His highest priority - a regular one-on-one meeting with the Heavenly Father. If Jesus did it, we cannot possibly say we've got an excuse for not doing it. Scripture is filled with examples of this. Moses getting up to meet God in His tent of meeting. David saying, "Early will I seek You. Satisfy us in the morning with your love."

You see, we need our meeting because of our addiction. We're all earth addicts; we're hooked on this world's ideas. We're hooked on this world's entertainment. We're hooked on this world's ways of treating people. We're all sin addicts as well.

After following Christ for a while, Paul says, "The things that I want to do, I do not do. The things I don't want to do, I keep on doing" (Romans 7:15). We're addicted to sin. We're addicted to earth. Now, the 12-step dependency programs recognize that you can't change without regularly going to the support group meetings.

Now, our support group is a support person. We cannot stay away from sin unless we have our meeting - yeah, our meeting with God - regularly. The day you skip your meeting is the day you start to slip. We're not talking about some legalistic ritual where you have check the box Christianity: read my Bible and prayed. No, not doing your duty. It's a love thing. I must be with my Lord because I love Him; I want to be faithful to Him, not unfaithful. I need to plug into His power this day, picking up fresh manna for this day, getting His daily dose of strength for this day, getting His guidance for this day. I need that to fight my addiction to sin this day and my addiction to earth stuff. Yeah, today.

See, I've been hooked on things that hurt me, things that hurt others, things that hurt God. We were all addicts, and we just can't afford to miss those meetings. So, did you show up for yours today?

Disney World. The Magic Kingdom. How can a four-year-old girl be a little cranky in that dream destination for kids her age? Our granddaughter had been having a great day there with her mom and her cousins while her daddy was busy in meetings. She'd done all the princess stuff she loved, she'd gotten the autographs of Disney characters that she loved, she'd gone on rides she'd been looking forward to. But for some reason, by early afternoon she was just a little out of sorts. By that time, her dad was available, and he showed up to take her on some rides. And suddenly, it was like the clouds had blown away and the sun came out. She was the bouncy, happy little girl we all know again. In retrospect, I guess it was easy to diagnose why the clouds had rolled in. She was missing her Daddy!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Substitute For a Daddy."

It's true of every one of us, even if our childhood is way behind us. There's a spot in our heart and in our life that was meant to be filled by a father. If you've been trusted by God with the awesome assignment of being a father, don't ever forget there's nothing that can take your place in the life of your son or daughter. No matter how young or how old they are.

In Ephesians 6:4, our word for today from the Word of God, He speaks directly to dads: "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." We fail our children, and we fail the God who gave them to us when we continually "exasperate" them.

We exasperate them by our absence. We're so busy they just get our leftovers while everyone else gets our best. And that's wrong priorities. We exasperate our children by our unavailability. We're around them, but we're not with them. We're all tied up with sports on TV or some website, checking something out, we're doing our "chores" or we're involved in our hobby or our work. We're there, but they can't have us - because from the way it looks to them, there's something always more important than they are.

We exasperate our children by our criticism, too. How many of us have been wounded by the feeling that we could never be good enough for our dad? If you're always harping on what they need to improve, on what's wrong with them, that child is going to have a hard time believing they have a lot of value. The praise and encouragement of a dad is one of the most powerful life-shaping forces on earth.

Our kids are also exasperated by a father's silence - he doesn't express his feelings, he doesn't show or speak his love for them. So they're never sure where they stand. And a dad can exasperate a child with just passivity - a failure to lead, to set and enforce consistent boundaries, to provide spiritual leadership for them.

Maybe you're thinking about the hole you have in your life because of what your father never was for you. I call it the daddy deficit. I've got a wonderful promise from God for you in Psalm 68:4-5. "His name is the Lord...a father to the fatherless." And Psalm 10:14 declares that "You, O God...are the helper of the fatherless." God is already your Creator. He wants to be your Father - to love you, to care for you, not like the earthly father you had, but like the father you always wished you had.

But first you've got to have the sins forgiven that stand between you and Him. God the Father sent His only Son, Jesus, to die to pay for those sins so you can belong to the ultimate Father you were made for. The day you put your total trust in Jesus to forgive your sins, you get a personal Savior and you get the Father that your heart is missing.

You ready for that? Tell Him you want to belong to Him. Tell Him today. Go to our website and find there the verses that will show you how to be sure you belong to Him. That site is ANewStory.com.

You know, as a Dad, there's a lot of regrets. He'll forgive every mistake, every sin we've ever committed. All the hurts we've inflicted, He died to pay for them. This could be your new beginning today.

He's waiting to welcome you into His big ol' Father's arms this very day.

Our daughter-in-law grew up in the desert. So, the first time she saw the ocean, and the seashells that are all over the beach at low tide, she said, "Can you keep them?" She did! I mean, the good news is, "Yes, you can." And we've loved collecting seashells when we've had opportunity to spend time along the coast. Some of those shells make it to the shore totally intact. Others, well you know, are broken, sometimes by the surf, sometimes by seagulls who've peck them open to get at their yummy tenants. Occasionally, I've found a particularly striking treasure, though, like the conch shell that I picked up a few years ago. It was badly broken. But inside there was some amazing beauty - beautiful swirls in white and blue and pearl, and it made an incredible design to behold. Outside, that shell was just like rough and plain - just another shell - but not on the inside. I never would have seen its unforgettable beauty if it hadn't been broken.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Beauty From Brokenness."

God displays some of His most beautiful creations through broken things. Maybe broken is a word that in some way describes you right now. Then it's possible He could show folks some of His beauty through you.

As hard as that might be for you to believe right now, you need to hear what your Creator has promised to broken people in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Isaiah 61, beginning with verse 1. Speaking of Jesus, the Bible says, "The Sovereign Lord has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners...to comfort all those who mourn...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." God says that, through His Son, He wants to unleash in your soul healing for the pain of your past, and a freedom from the darkness that has brought you down. He wants to turn what's been something ugly into something beautiful and something life-giving.

He goes on to say of the broken people He touches that "they will be called oaks of righteousness...for the display of His splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated...All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed." So, God says He wants to do a powerful restoring, hope-giving work in broken people, so He can use them to do a powerful, hope-giving work for Him in a broken world.

I know He does that. I've seen it in a team of young Native Americans who have lived the despair of the highest rates of alcohol and drug abuse, and sexual abuse, and suicide on this continent. They are broken! But with Christ now in their lives, they go on our On Eagles' Wings team to the heart of North America's reservations telling their hope stories. And a generation that hasn't listened to anyone, that's written off Jesus as the white man's God, listens to them. And they have led literally thousands of Native Americans to Christ, because the light shines more brightly through broken vessels...a broken vessel like you and me.

They will listen to you because of your scars. They can see through your wounds the amazing beauty of a joy and a hope that only a Savior like Jesus can give. If you'll turn away from your despair, and maybe your bitterness, anger, self-pity, and give your brokenness to Him, He can do that miracle for you.

The songwriter was right when he said this, "All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife. But He made something beautiful of my life."