Dave Herring

Father in the Wild Dave Herring

I'm a product of the American divorce rate. Nothing tragic. Nothing obscure or awful. Just good old-fashioned family failure. Then in my early adulthood, I found myself repeating the very same home I grew up in and assimilating into American statistics myself. In response to the wreckage, I began driving. When I thought I was at the end of it all, I discovered that I was really at the beginning of a grand adventure. I was off to find my father. And finding my father would lead to finding security.

Security is perhaps one of our greatest needs as humans. Romantics say love is our greatest need. Philosophers say knowledge is our greatest needs. Mystics say transcendence is our greatest need. But what if security is in-fact our greatest need? Who would we be as a people, as a church, and as a nation if we felt a sense of security in our lives? Not superficial security where life is predictable, but a sacred security. One that's firm in our identity.

Affirmation by a father is something we all need, whether we want to admit it or not. Not having my father around in my most critical adolescent years created an insecurity in me that I eventually transferred over to my faith. I even transferred it over leaders and other authorities in my life. A breeding ground for insecurity. It wasn't until I found the secrets of beauty and adversity, and found the Father in the wild, that I became healthy and whole.

This journey is an introspective look at faith and freedom, and finding a father, with crisis as a catalyst. It's a journey across the wilderness of America, through prairies and mountains, across National Parks and along interstates, and ultimately the highways of the heart and mind.