For some of you, that's a good thing. You've got a father worth celebrating, or kids who are going to make you feel seen on Sunday, or both. And that's genuinely worth savoring.

But for a lot of men, Father's Day is complicated. It stirs up grief — for a father who's gone, or a relationship that was never what it should have been, or the gap between the dad you wanted and the one you got. It surfaces pressure — the weight of being a father yourself and wondering if you're doing it right. And sometimes it brings up a quiet, uncomfortable awareness that you're still looking for something from your father that he is simply never going to give.

If any of that is where you are this weekend — this newsletter is for you.

Because the most important Father's Day story ever told is not about a perfect father. It's about a broken son, a watching father, and a moment that changed everything.

You know the story. A son demands his inheritance early — which in that culture was essentially telling his father he wished he were dead. He takes everything, wastes it, ends up feeding pigs and starving. And he decides to go home.

Here's the moment I don't want you to miss:

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him."

The father was watching. He had been watching. Every day since his son left, this father was looking toward the road — not with anger, not with a prepared speech about what the boy owed him, but with eyes that were still searching the horizon for the son who walked away.

And when he saw him — when that silhouette appeared at the edge of sight — he didn't wait. He didn't cross his arms and make the boy come to him. He ran.

A father in that culture did not run. It was undignified. It was beneath him. He ran anyway.

That is your heavenly Father. Not sitting in a chair waiting for you to earn your way back. Not tallying up what you owe. Watching the horizon. Running toward you before you can even finish your apology.

1. He was watching before you turned around. You didn't have to get your life together to get His attention. He's been looking in your direction the whole time.

2. He runs — He doesn't make you earn your way back. The son had a whole speech prepared. The father interrupted it with a robe and a ring and a party. God's response to your returning is not measured — it's extravagant.

3. He restored fully — not partially. The son expected to come back as a servant. The father reinstated him as a son. That's not probation. That's full restoration.

Have I let God father me — or have I only let Him manage me?

A lot of men relate to God the way they related to a hard father. Keep the rules. Don't disappoint. Stay useful. Perform well enough to avoid trouble. That's not a relationship. That's management.

The running father in Luke 15 is not managing his son. He is loving him — wildly, undignified, without calculation.

That's available to you. This weekend. Right now.

This Father's Day weekend, find a quiet moment — Sunday morning before everything starts, or Saturday night — and read Luke 15:11–24 slowly. Just once. And when you get to the part where the father runs, stop.

Sit with this question: What would it change in me if I actually believed God runs toward me?

Prayer: "Father, I've been trying to earn my way back to You. I've been standing at a distance preparing a speech. Today I'm coming home — and I'm receiving what You're offering. Not as a servant. As a son. Amen."

Episode 3 of FATHER FORWARD — "The Father Who Ran" — is live now. We're in Luke 15 and making the case that this parable is not primarily about the prodigal son. It's about the father. And what that father shows us about God changes everything about how we relate to Him.

🎙️ Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Premium subscribers — your resource this week is "Receiving the Father" — a 3-Day Devotional on Luke 15. It's the right companion for Father's Day weekend.

Hit reply and tell me: What's one word that describes how Father's Day lands for you this year?

I read every response. I pray for you.

One step at a time.

— Alexx