Almost 35 years ago, a doctor’s report after a routine physical revealed the presence of protein in our son’s urine. So at the age of 8, he had a kidney biopsy at Oakland Children’s hospital. After the biopsy, we brought him home. Late that night, he began to suffer severe pain.

We called the hospital and they said to bring him back. We rushed back (1/2 hr drive) to the emergency room. They put him on “wait and see”. In the meantime, they could not give him any pain medication that would interfere with the diagnosis.

I learned a lot about a father’s love that night as I sat at his bedside for hours watching my little boy’s intense pain. There was NOTHING I could do but watch. And weep. And pray. They finally determined that the biopsy had caused his kidney to spasm, thus causing the pain. Several days later, we brought him home. (Ten years later, he received my left kidney and has successfully carried it for almost twenty five years. But that’s another story)

Easter Sunday morning, 1991, as I sat in a Sunday School class, I wrote the attached poem.
I had discovered a very personal understanding of why God turned His back on the cross.

FORSAKEN?

“My God! My God, Why? Have you forsaken me?”

I sat beside the bed of my son. In Agony.
I saw his pain. I wept this prayer:

“Let me take his place – give me his pain.”

Slowly, as the hours passed, I learned this truth:

‘Twas God’s Love that turned His back
His Love for me, His love for you
His Love for all He’d call His own

The Father watched His Son hang on the cross
He saw the pain, He knew the shame
He felt the blows, the thorn-pierced brow
He wept. His choice He made

‘Twas His Love that turned His back
His Love for me, His love for you
His Love for all He’d call His own

The Father knew the price His Son would pay
He could have cried,

“THIS… IS ENOUGH OF THIS! THEY’RE NOT WORTH IT!
COME HOME! MY SON, COME HOME!”

‘Twas His Love that turned His back
His Love for me, His love for you
His Love for all He would call His own