MEMORIES OF MY DAD

Father’s Day, 2009


My dad was a wonderful example of what a Christian man and dad should be and I was very fortunate to have a great relationship with him. He has been gone since 1990 and I want to share three strong memories of him.

1. Dad’s devotional time.

As a boy I had an early morning paper route. I got up at 4:30 or 5:00 o’clock six mornings a week, got on my bike, picked up 65 or 70 newspapers, and delivered them in a neighborhood not far from where we lived. I would be back home around 6:45, change clothes, have breakfast and get ready for school.

Every morning when I came in from my paper route, Dad would be sitting at the kitchen table with his study Bible open and a cup of coffee by his right hand. He was a businessman, in management of a large lumber operation. He never started his day without spending time in the Word of God.

My dad modeled for me a value that he didn’t have to preach about—he showed me—and I am deeply grateful. He valued the Word of God and I have never forgotten that. I love God’s Word and have been a student of the Bible, and that love affair began when I saw my dad and the value that he put on the Word.

2. “Son, I love you.”

I never doubted that my dad loved me, not once, not ever. I was 45 years old when Dad died and every time he saw me, sometime during our visit, he would tell me, “Son, I love you.” And then he would kiss me on the cheek. What a tragedy that so many fathers struggle with expressing love for their sons and daughters. I have friends, grown men with their own children and grandchildren, who have never heard their dad say, “Son, I love you.”

My dad was not a weak man or a sissy, but my granddad had shown love to him and he found it natural and manly to show love to his children.

As a dad with grown children and now grandchildren, I never tire of telling my family, each one, how much I love them.

God never tires of telling us how much He loves us. He has made His love the banner statement of Christianity: “For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16).

3. Dad’s legacy.

In 1990, Carol and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by taking a trip to England courtesy of mileage points on United Airlines and points in the Marriott Hotel system. Just a few days before we were to leave on our trip, I felt very strongly impressed that I should fly to Vancouver and see my dad. He was hospitalized in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease. I had just come off a trip and the last thing I wanted to do before taking the flight to London was get on another airplane. I was travelling a lot in those days and would sometimes be on a flight three or four times times a week. But I listened to the Lord and just two days before leaving for England, I climbed on a plane and flew to Vancouver late one Friday.

I spent a few hours on Saturday with my dad. He couldn’t get around at all and could hardly talk but his eyes brightened when I got there. After a few minutes of nonsensical chatter, he became lucid and very clearly asked me about Carol and his granddaughters. Dad cared and wanted to know how his family was. I got him into a wheelchair, walked him around, and talked to him. Only a few times did he say anything that I could understand. Parkinson’s is a cruel disease and I hope the devil gets a triple dose just to start with.

Because I needed to catch a flight late in the afternoon to get home so that Carol and I could leave for London the next morning, I explained to Dad that I was going to have to leave soon. I looked at the man I loved and called “Dad” and for some reason I asked him, “Dad, are you okay?” and in a moment of crystalline clarity, he looked at me and answered, “Son, I’m fine. I’m just praising the Lord.”

Those were the last words my dad ever spoke to me. He died two weeks later, just as Carol and I were returning from Europe.

My dad left me a great legacy. Not wealth, because he didn’t have much of that, but he left something far more precious and valuable. My dad left me the imprint of a life lived well. He taught me great principles of how a man, a real man, should live. My dad mentored me by showing me how to be a good husband and a good and loving parent. Most of all, he modeled for me some of the great values of a follower of Jesus Christ.

My dad is my hero and I’m glad to share these memories with you on Father’s Day.