So, like a lot of people, I've been thinking about my dad. My father in law and father both are with the Lord now. My step-father-in-law (we just call him dad!) is still living. But today, on Father's Day, I've been thinking about my dad.
My dad had LOTS of flaws. Big ones. Many of those flaws I grapple with today. But today I have not been thinking about his flaws. I have been thinking about his passions. In the end...8 years after his death...it is his passions that have shaped me. Here are a few of them...
1) Dad was passionate about Jesus. Jesus was not a word in a song, an image on a screen, or a dusty memory. Jesus was who my dad loved. I think all of his life my dad knew that Jesus had forgiven him greatly.
2) Dad was passionate about his family. My dad and mom never had a "ken and barbie" marriage (whatever that is!), but they loved each other and they sure loved us kids. 4 kids and dad & mom...we were a very tight family. We've been through lots of storms...but we're still tight. Dad was often the glue (or the sledgehammer!) of the family...and we are just now figuring out how to do it without him.
3) Dad was passionate about reaching lost people. I've seen my dad lead people to Christ in restaurants, airplanes, car dealerships, homes, ballfields, etc. My dad was passionate about leading people to Jesus. I never thought I was an evangelist like dad...and I'm not in the technical term...but his passion for lost people flows through my veins to this day
4) Dad loved life. He loved to travel. He loved his Boston Celtics (which was rough for me as a Laker fan in the 1970's). He loved to eat. My dad loved life. When he died, my oldest daughter said, "Grampie lived until the day he died". Dad's passion for life is something I've come to later in life...and praying that I make up for lost time.
Well...that's just a snapshot. My dad had flaws--BIG ONES (just like I do). But his passions are what stayed with me and shaped me.
Pastor John,
Thank you so much for telling about your father. I lost my father almost 15 years ago, and I still miss him today. I don't know if my father is in Heaven with Jesus, because I know that he believed in God, but I don't ever remember him stepping into a Church. God made a very unique man when he made my dad.
1. He was not our biological father, but he married my mom with 4 kids, me being the youngest. He was the only earthly father that I ever new, so I am sure that scored points with God.
2. He was the kind of man that could do anything, from being a truck driver to working on Nuclea Submarines in Connecticut as a welder. He would build so many things with wood, and I still have a lot of things that he built for me. He crafted a hopechest for me out of redwood, and it is beautiful. He called it my hopeless chest, but I knew it was with love.
3. He loved to travel, whether it was across country, or getting up at 5AM to go to Reno to get a Strawberry Waffle at John Asquaguas Nugget in Sparks. It was nothing for him and my mom to set off for the day with parts unknown until they came home.
4. He was the male influence in my son's life for 10 years. He absolutely adored having my son Jeremy with him, they were buddies.
Everything was not peaches and cream, on the flip side of that I would say, but he loved his family very much.
Thank you Pastor John for being the Pastor at CVC, because Jesus surely knew what he was doing when you came to Nevada. I love being part of your congregation, and look forward to many more years.
Sincerely,
Kay Newcomb
Posted by: Kay Newcomb | June 21, 2009 at 09:11 AM