Army Staff Sergeant Philip Gray deployed to Afghanistan. His tour of duty would last for 270 days.

It would also separate him from Rosie, his 7-year-old daughter.

Before he left, he wrote a note to Rosie for every day he would be away. In them, he encouraged her in her school work and to do her best in whatever she did.

On October 7, 2019, he left home, and every day, while he was gone, his wife put the notes in Rosie’s lunch book. They were replete with small drawings of holidays, such as pumpkins for Halloween.

The whole time that Sgt. Gray served his company, he thought of his family, especially his child.

It’s no different for God. He is a father to children and shows the same love to them. As the psalmist observed,

“As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.” (Psalm 103:13)

A good father keeps in touch with his children. Through the Bible and prayer, God the Father keeps in communication with his children. God is never far away.

Sgt. Gray arrived home on August 8, 2020, three days before Rosie’s birthday. She asked her father, ‘Dad, are you going leave me and mom a note?’” Philip said. “I say ‘Yes bug, I will leave you a note.’”

And God does the same. He still leaves us his notes in his word. Are you getting your note today?

-Robert G. Taylor-