By HIS Grace

At 7:03 the doorbell rang.  In just a matter of seconds, every emotion stirred up inside of me; I was nervous, excited, anxious and I began to feel overwhelmed.  This was it - my dad had arrived.  Before I went downstairs, I said, "Lord, you are in control, let your peace be in all of us."  When I got downstairs, hugs were already being exchanged between my dad and the kids; my boys had never seen or met him before.  My daughter vaguely remembered him from a visit when she was just 5 years old.  As they cleared the way and moved aside; it was now time for me and my dad to engage one another.  What would it feel like to hug him? was the thought that ran quickly through my mind.  This show of affection would be different from the ones in the past.  It comes after the fact that we have reconciled things.  We embraced one another, and although it wasn't a long embrace, it was comforting, it felt right, and it was real.  And right then...