By Bo Sanchez

Let me tell you a crazy story I heard recently. There’s this husband who out of sheer love for his wife decided to prove it to her. So he swam the widest oceans, crossed the deepest rivers and climbed the highest mountains to show his deep devotion to her. But, in the end, she divorced him. Why? Because he was never home. (Get it?)

Let me tell you an experience I had as a kid.

One day I asked Mom “Why do shoes keep eating up my socks?” As a young boy that was always a mystery to me. All my classmates never had that problem. Their socks remained tight and high up their legs the entire day.

Mom didn’t answer my question, but simply gave me two rubber bands which I dutifully placed around to top of my socks. To this day, fifteen years later, I still have permanent circle marks around my legs. But aside, from this slight defect, the band works like magic.

It never did occur to me that Dad and Mom didn’t have the money to buy a new pair of socks for me. So I wore five-year-old socks, all soggy, grayish and garter-less.

And yet amazingly, I never complained. I believe it was because Dad was always home when I needed him. Every night, after coming from work, we’d jog together, sit around and talk about Tarzan, Farrah Fawcett Majors, God, and what I wanted to be when I grew up (a stockholders). On Saturday, we’d walk to Cubao, eat hotdog-on-a-stick, and buy new rubber bands before going home.

I’ve learned that in truth, we don’t want our loved ones to show their love for us in big ways. Swimming the widest oceans, crossing the deepest rivers and climbing the highest mountains seem heroic and spectacular – but that’s not what we really want. Deep in our hearts, we just want then home. With us.

Sometimes, God will operate that way. Suddenly, He decides not to answer our prayers or fill our needs or heal our sickness or give us the miracle we’re asking for. (He got reasons why He won’t and believe me - they’re pretty good ones.)

So He’ll just be there beside you, holding you in a hug. Sharing your pain. Weeping as you weep.

Oh, He might give you some rubber bonds. And that small comfort from Him will be more than enough to sustain you. Because the most essential truth you already know. Daddy is home.