Today, Jared
Moore wrote a tribute to his recently departed dad that was very good! It’s
here: http://sbcvoices.com/dad-if-i-could-talk-to-you-i-would-say/.
It struck me as
I read it how many of these things I could apply to my father and I was
chagrined that I had not thought of all these things. So I'm using some of his
headings and adding a couple myself, maybe they'll stir your own thoughts.
Now I know none
of our dads were perfect. Some of us had less functional dads than others; some
have no earthly father that they know. As sad as that is, I'm grateful for a
father that taught me a little about my heavenly Father. And for those with
horrible fathers, know that God is everything your earthly father wasn't.
If he wasn't
faithful, know the Almighty is. If he wasn't generous, God has lavished His
grace upon us. If he wasn't there, then remember, God is our very present help.
But dad, if I could talk to you, I would say. . .
Thank you for reading the Bible in front of me when I
was a young boy. I
don't remember it clearly, it’s a vague image of the family gathered in the
living room. But I know it happened. I have your Bible now and know it wasn't
unread.
Thank you for dragging me to church. I didn't
often truly enjoy it. But I found that I was loved by folks, and looked at with
favor because of the kind of people you and mom are. More importantly, I heard
the gospel time after time. And God's word is surely a hammer that shatters the
rock hard heart.
Thank you for teaching me that you need Jesus. You
admitted to me your faults on occasion. I’m glad I don't have
perfection to try to live up to! Your hard-working, stoically suffering, high
integrity persona is hard enough. But I know, you knew, you needed Jesus.
Thank you for helping others in private. I know you
were a faithful giver. I don't know what all you did for others. But I
inherited this someplace! I can't help but think that you were free with your
money as you were with the time you gave to others.
Thank you for teaching me the importance of honesty
and integrity concerning vocation. You were a hard worker. You seemed
to enjoy it for crying out loud! You worked at Randolph AFB as I was growing up
and then you'd come home and work. I'm glad you liked to sit and watch football
and baseball; otherwise I'd feel guilty about sitting around as much as I do!
But also, you were an honest guy. Not just because you handled the church's
money and their 'books' with integrity, but you always expected me to tell the
truth!
Thank you for
serving your country. To know that
you were part of the military machine that brought an end to the holocaust, set
Europe free and ended the scourge of the Nazi's and others, makes me proud of
you. And I hope I too would rise to the occasion if it
was required of good men to take up arms.
Thank you for
demonstrating humility. Both when you apologized to me once when
I was a kid - You weren't doing something right by the family but I didn't
really know what you were talking about - but I know you felt bad about it and
wanted us to know you did. But also when I stood behind you as a boy, when you
walked into your boss’s office to ask off time to take me to the doctor, when I
was having way too many doctor visits. I'll never forget that image. You were
there in suit and tie, standing at attention in front of your boss's desk,
telling him you needed to go a little early to accompany mom and me to my
specialist. And the way he looked at you. There was interest in your explanation
and what now seems to be a bit of deference on his part. I remember thinking at
the time that you were older than him, why was he the boss? But you seemed to
command respect and a certain gravitas there as well as at home.
And while I’m not going to thank you for your
temper, I’m glad to know there were things that were important to you and you
backed them up.
I know you wouldn’t abide back-talk, and now that I am grown, makes sense! I
know you didn’t want us back-talking or disrespecting mom, too. I’m glad you
backed her up as well. I remember you giving a certain uncle some significant
grief when he lit up a cigarette after you informed him that smoking was no
longer tolerated in our house. Dude! I thought you were going to hit him!
And dad, I bet there are an awful lot of life
lessons I learned from you that I don’t even know I did. But I will say,
I don’t know that my older brothers share all these views. I think you mellowed
with age. I think you were probably harder on them, less reasonable at times,
and I think I was probably a tad too much afraid of you growing up. So, I didn’t
want to my kids to be afraid of me. Maybe I could have used a bit more of that ‘fear’
factor, but so be it. I do know you were a bit ‘easy’ on your only daughter and
to a little boy that hardly seemed fair. But now that I am older I know you
were a lot easier on me, the baby of the family, than you were on my siblings.
And for that, I am glad!
I love ya dad. I
wish you could hear this. And say hi to mom and my big brother Paul. But I
imagine the heavenly plane is so far beyond my existence it’s a faint memory to you
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