11/14/2024
Hey dad, it’s been 205 days since you went to be with The Lord.
It’s been 206 days since you last preached a message.
Hearing your voice just reminded me how much I have missed you.
It’s the first time I could bring myself to listen to one of your messages since you went to be with The Lord.
To me the sadness was still too near.
I wasn’t ready.
But as much as you have been in my dreams lately, I knew I needed to hear you again.
People loved you because you preached the truth, you were exactly who you said you were, and you were trustworthy.
You, in turn, trusted others as well.
For 69 years that trust in others served you well.
Until the day The Lord brought you home by the hand of someone we all trusted, once, not that long ago.
It was your kind nature that was used to take advantage of you.
I’m thankful you never saw it coming and that it was over quickly.
That was a kind mercy from The Lord.
I knew from one of our last conversations you were ready, and that you only lived for mom and for preaching to God’s people.
He knew your desire was to be with Him.
While we were caught terribly off guard by the abruptness of it all, The Lord was not.
The Lord brought you home at the appointed time, in the appointed place, and in the exact manner he purposed - long before we were born.
After that shocking day, The Lord blessed us in many ways that are public and in ways that are still private to this day.
I’m grateful for those blessings.
I’m also grateful that you’ve been in the presence of the very same God and King you’ve preached about for decades… for 205 days already.
What a blessed time for you.
You’re more alive now than you ever were here on earth.
You’re happier than you ever were before.
You’re free from hunger, disease, and the relentless depression and anxiety that plagued you your entire life.
I’m grateful for those blessings as well.
It doesn’t make me miss you any less, dad.
My birthday is on Sunday. My first without you.
You taught us “we may not ever know why God does things as he does them, but that we can always trust he does them for His glory and the benefit of His people”