Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. I'm Sheridan Boise and I've called our reading Fixing Go-Carts.

The garage of my childhood home holds many memories. On Saturday mornings, my dad would roll our car down the driveway so we had room to work,

with my favourite project being a broken go-card we'd found. On that garage floor, we gave it new

wheels, attached a sporty plastic windshield, and, with dad on the street looking out for traffic,

I would race down the driveway with such

excitement. Looking back, I see more was going on in that garage than simply fixing go-carts.

Instead, a young boy was being shaped by his dad, and getting a glimpse of God in the process.

Human beings have been patterned on God's own nature.

Human parenting has its origin in God too, for he is the father from whom every family in

heaven and on earth derives its name.

Just as parents imitate God's life-giving abilities by bringing children into the world,

when they nurture and protect

their kids, they express qualities not sourced in themselves, but in Father God. He's the model

all parenting is based on. My father wasn't perfect. Like every father and mother, his parenting

sometimes failed to imitate heavens. But when it so often did imitate God, it gave me a glimpse of his own nurture and protection.

Right there, as we fixed go-karts on the garage floor.

Today's scripture reading is from Ephesians chapter 3, verses 12 to 19.

In Him and through faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth

derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power

through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

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