The Father Who Never Stopped Writing

During World War II, a British father named Ernest Gordon watched his teenage son walk away from everything the family stood for. The young man fell in with a rough crowd in London, rejected his father's faith, and eventually cut off all contact. For three years, Ernest heard nothing — not a word, not a letter.

But every single week, Ernest sat at his kitchen table in Bristol and wrote a letter to his son. He addressed them to the last known lodging house. Most came back unopened. Some never came back at all. His wife once asked him why he kept writing into silence. Ernest replied, "Because he is still my boy."

When the son finally returned home in 1946 — broken, penniless, and ashamed — he found a shoebox on his old bed. Inside were 157 letters, every one his father had written, carefully copied before mailing. The first letter read: "I taught you to ride a bicycle on Gloucester Road. I held the seat and ran beside you. I never stopped running beside you."

This is the heart of Hosea 11. The Almighty declares, "When Israel was a child, I loved him. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms." Even when His children wandered into silence and idolatry, God's compassion was aroused. His heart recoiled within Him. He would not execute His fierce anger, for He is God and not man — the Holy One in their midst, whose parental love simply refuses to let go.