Where do I start?
My earliest memories are when I was little and for some reason I loved to rub my nose in the hair on his arm. Who knows why? But it brings back pleasant memories thinking about it.
He was the best bedtime story-teller ever! His rendition of the Three Billy Goats Gruff was the best! He would change his voice for each goat that trip tramped across the Troll's bridge. And there was the Three Little Pigs and each pig had a different voice and the big bad wolf had a rough voice. We loved bed time stories with him.
He had a love for youth. We had a number of foster children over the years, and he loved planning and doing activities with the youth at church and at Camp Gilead. I remember the great New Year's Eve parties he would put on for the church youth at our house and then later at the church. What a fun time that was playing pool and other games, watching Bear Country and then beginning the New Year in prayer.
He loved the outdoors and I remember many camping trips as we crossed the United States to go visit relatives. So many memories were made on those trips. We had a lot of mishaps along the way and he trusted God to take care of us. We learned to look for God's hand in our travels.
He loved music and directed the church choir for a long time and often directed the congregational singing. He loved putting special emphasis on certain parts of the hymns.
He loved preaching. He stuck to the Scripture. There were tough times in his ministry, but he always persevered. Often he wondered if he was having any impact for Christ on people, but in his later years he would hear from various ones that his ministry in their lives had helped to shape them into the people they are today. Praise God for that.
He practiced what he preached. He was a humble man. He was a wonderful example to us kids, growing up.
His love for the Lord shined through his whole life. He and my mom had daily devotions every morning and they had a box filled with the names of all the people they knew and ministered to over the years and each morning they would take three or four names from the box to pray for. This was a practice they did up until he began to feel so poorly that he couldn't do it anymore. He believed in the power of prayer.
My dad will be dearly missed. It just isn't the same seeing his empty chair in the living room when I go to visit. I'm going to miss his sense of humor, his puns, his "under the nose" looks, his prayers, his music and singing.
Oh, I remember attending Sunday School with him sometime in the last ten months when he was doing better and in the Sunday school class they sang some hymns. I was sitting next to Dad and we were harmonizing. I remember the Sunday School teacher commenting on our harmony. That was a special time singing with him that I will remember for a long time because it was the last time I heard him sing.
I bet he is enjoying the singing in heaven right now. He is no doubt singing at the top of his lungs in worship to his Savior. I'm looking forward to the day when I can harmonize with him again. I love you Daddy and miss you so much!
2 comments:
Thanks again Marsha for sharing your memories of your dad. I remember when in early high school he took a few of us camping in a hiking trip to a lake. We had to hike and carry all our gear. I remember each night having to hang all our food up in a tree so bears wouldn't be drawn to our camp. That scared me....but your dad took good care of us. I remember him making pancakes but instead of syrup I think we had powder sugar for flavoring and maybe peanut butter. That's the only time I've ever hiked except for hunting a few hours. I'll never forget that adventure with your dad being the only adult with high schoolers.
What wonderful memories; your stories and comments brought back many memories for me too! Thank you for sharing this, Aunt Marsha! I miss him too and can't wait to meet again in Heaven. Praying for you and the rest of the family.
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