My Dad was raised during the Great Depression by a father who was a prominent businessman and an invalid mother who became weaker with age. Grandpa was active in his church and helped carry it financially during those difficult times.
Dad had many interests, including playing guitar in several bands, which called for him to play in bars and the American Legion (which was basically a bar). That environment and the friends he associated with led to a drinking problem. Mom covered well for him, for I never knew about the drinking until I was 16.
When I got saved in 1971 I quickly led my Mom into a relationship with Christ, but Dad was not open at all! After I was in the ministry, one Sunday I decided to preach on ‘Fishers of Men’. I interviewed Dad about the characteristics of different kinds of fish, and made notes. Then I prepared a sermon about how to catch different kinds of people, using the fish as examples. Dad surprised me and came to church that Sunday. Slowly he began to connect to other men in the church and he became a regular.
When he went into the hospital for heart By-Pass surgery it gave me the opportunity to talk straight with him about his faith. He assured me for the first time that he had accepted Christ as his Savior. I asked him a couple of times after that, and each time he assured me he was ready to go.
At home growing up, Dad was “old school” and showed no affection to any of us. I only saw my Dad kiss my Mom once all the years I lived there. But, we gradually saw Dad change. What a shock it was the day I told him I loved him, and he replied that he loved me, too. Once the words began, they began to flow. In the last couple of years, he allowed those words to flow freely, telling each of us that he loved us, and providing the evidence that Christ was indeed working in his life. He would always add an Amen to my prayers for him. Today he has arrived home. Amen.
My Dad was a veteran of World War II. As a High School Junior, he went to Toledo for a physical exam for the Selective Service (draft board). While there, he and his buddy, Dick Dove, were so inspired by all the recruitment hype at the Toledo Armory, that they both decided to enlist. Dick wanted to enlist in the Marines, but Dad didn’t want to sleep in a tent. But, Dad decided if they could do it together, he would also enlist. So they went to the US Marine reception area and were turned down, as they already had met their quota, so they both enlisted instead in the US Navy. Dad breathed a sigh of relief not having to sleep in a tent, and they sent him to Attu Island, Alaska, were he slept in a tent.
Attu was the last island in the Aleutian Chain, and had been initially taken by the Japanese, and quickly taken back again by the Americans. Dad’s job was as a Coxswain in the Net Depot where his crew repaired big steel nets used to protect the harbor from Japanese submarines.
After the war he was retrained as pilot of an LCT (Light craft, tank) and sent to the South Pacific where he helped in the clean-up effort around Guam, Saipan and Tinian. I enjoyed hearing him tell stories of his experiences. He didn’t kill any Japs or win any dramatic battles, but all those who served in that conflict were genuine heroes.
My Dad passed away early yesterday morning, following a long battle with prostate cancer which spread to other parts of his body. I spent yesterday with my Mom and siblings making funeral plans and going through old photos. Old memories include a lot to laugh about.
My Dad was a very quiet unassuming man who had a strong work ethic and provided well for my Mom, although we kids thought we were dirt poor. I resented not having more when I was a child, but I think I learned to appreciate the Lord’s provision better having come from that upbringing.
Dad was an avid outdoorsman who loved to hunt, trap, and fish. He even made a career out of walking around in the weather delivering mail. Whenever someone would ask if it was too hot or too cold for him, he always answered, “Just right.” He bagged twelve deer over the years, and cleaned thousands of fish of every kind. He even purchased an antique wringer washing machine to “gut” smelt.
I still remember rabbit hunting with him years ago. We were taking a break after walking the length of a field, and I had my shotgun resting on my hip, with the muzzle upward. I absent-mindedly released the safety and the gun went off (a faulty safety), about twelve inches from Dad’s ear! He dropped to the ground like he’d been shot, holding his ear, then leapt to his feet and gave me a stern chewing out. Come to think about it, he never went hunting with me again.
During the ugly years of Word War II, a Christian woman in Poland was standing by the street when a German soldier was pushing a Jewish mother toward the train station. Everyone knew these helpless victims were being transported to extermination camps. At the heels of the Jewish woman was a small girl in tears.
As they passed the Christian woman, the soldier demanded, “Is this your daughter?” The terrified mother looked straight into the Christian woman’s eyes and said, “No, the child is hers.” From that moment on the Christian woman took that Jewish girl and raised her as her own daughter.
That Christian woman later immigrated to the United States and recounted her story to Penelope Duckworth, a chaplain at Stanford University.
Thank God that we’ve been rescued and adopted into the family of God. “So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir” (Galatians 4:7).
Tags: adoption
Remember the story of Snow White? The wicked Queen ordered the hunter to take her deep into the forest and cut her heart out. The hunter had a soft spot in his heart and killed a deer instead, cutting out its heart and taking it back to the queen, saying it was Snow White’s. Snow White was left to die alone in the forest.
But Snow White found her way to a little cabin where she was adopted by the Seven Dwarfs, who cared for her and treated her as one of the family. What a great illustration of God’s Providential care for believers. We were singled out by Satan for death, yet we have been rescued and adopted into the family of God Himself, who takes us under His shepherding wings and treats us as His own. The caregivers He uses to help us, however, are often as strange as those dysfunctional dwarfs.
“He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—” (Ephesians 1:5).
Tags: adoption, fables, providence
Monday afternoon I was sitting at my computer playing solitaire or something (my day off) with my mind in neutral when an old song that I hadn’t sung in many years came to mind. And it wasn’t the chorus of a popular old hymn, it was an obscure verse to one:
I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place; I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face; Content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss, My sinful self my only shame, My glory all the cross.
The song warmed my heart and got me to thinking. Why does that old song touch my heart? And then it dawned on me: it was a memory of a time when God touched my life. And, then I understood what those old folks mean when they keep saying, “Why can’t we sing more of the old hymns. They have such meaning and the young generation is missing it”. The older generation have a memory of a touch from God, and the old hymns revive that fond memory.
But we will never reach a new generation on a memory from the past. That old hymn touched my heart because of where I was when I first learned it. But the next generation wasn’t there and cannot relate. They must have their own experience.
God brought that old hymn to my memory to teach me a valuable lesson about the power of a song in our lives. Do you have a similar experience about the power of of a song in your life?
Tags: memory, song
A Sunday School Superintendent had two new brothers in Sunday School. When registering them he asked their ages and birthdays. One said, “We’re both seven. My birthday is April 8, 2001, and my brother’s is April 20, 2001.”
“But, that’s impossible!” answered the Superintendent.
“No, it’s not,” replied the other brother. “One of us is adopted.”
Without thinking, the Superintendant asked, “Which one?”
The boys looked at each other and smiled, and the first brother said, “We asked Dad awhile ago, but he just said he loved us, and he couldn’t remember any more which one was adopted.”
In Romans 8:17 Paul writes, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Adoption means we’re children of God. Let’s live like it!
Tags: adoption, children of God