“She knows. She was present when I was told, but she is not the focus here. I want to know how you can hold to the idea that I am supposed to believe that God is a good Father when nothing in my experience proves that fathers can be good at all.”

“So we are to base truth upon your experiences alone? What about other men’s experiences? What about mine? I had a good father, and I am trying my humble best to be a good father to the children God has granted me.”

Heat flickered through Daniel’s veins. He had forgotten Ed was a father.

“Furthermore, I assert that you have had more than one good father figure in your life, though you may not have recognized them as such. What about the teachers you have mentioned at that fancy boarding school you attended? I know some of your instructors were not kind, but you’ve remembered one or two to me that had your best interests at heart. And your tutor at university? He seems to have had a positive influence on you. Not to mention my humble self. While I am not quite old enough to be your father, I have tried to lead and guide you. And behind your current circumstances is a patron somewhere who has taken on the role of provider and protector, things a father would do. Through all of that, can you not see the hand of God?

“You were plucked out of a terrible situation, an illegitimate child with no prospects of anything other than a life of drudgery, and you have been gifted a fine education, fine clothes, a warm place to stay, plenty of food. You have the skills to earn income, and you have other opportunities available to you as a result of those blessings. Others in this world—in this very office, in fact—have a far more difficult existence living without a father than you ever had. If you cannot see that, you are at heart a coward and liar yourself.”

Daniel jerked as if Ed had slapped him. He was no coward and he was no liar, but the memory of the single, cramped, cold room that housed Owen and his fatherless family rose up and kicked him in the conscience.

“Admit, even if only to yourself, that while you might not have known your father—and now that you do, you are less than enchanted by the reality of who he was—that God has had a hand in your life, that He has been guiding and caring for you, bringing into your life men to mentor, disciple, and train you as a father should have. God is good regardless of your experience because the Bible says He is, and the Bible never lies. We cannot judge Scripture or what we know about God by our own experiences and emotions, because those are changeable and untrustworthy most of the time.”