IT’s Father’s Day
My Father passed away in 1999, at the age of 83. He was born never knowing his father, who didn’t stick around once his mom was pregnant. He knew two step-dads. One died when he was in the eighth grade; so my dad dropped out of school to help run the Meigs County farm, while also working in a coal mine. He eventually bought his own small mine. Later on, with a family of his own (a wife and four children), he took drafting courses from home, while working as a carpenter. He retired after 32 years as a Union Carpenter. Dad owned a total of four different houses in his lifetime, all of them since my twelfth year of high school. He died of pneumonia, leaving Mom $50,000.00 in savings. Not bad for a Meigs County boy from a broken home.
Since Dad worked at carpentry, he moved the family around to many different addresses, following his work. I lived in eleven different homes in twelve years of schooling. Since Dad only had eight years of schooling himself, and never had a father figure of his own, he was never involved in the schooling of his children. The most we received from dad about school were threats for not wanting to go to school, or for getting into any kind of trouble on the bus, or in the classroom. Consequently, I never laid a lot of emphasis on good grades and was an average student. I did have a lot of fun goofing off with the school buddies; and got one spanking with a paddle with holes in it for throwing snow balls at kids.
Dad did teach me how to work hard and fast. Dad worked by the project, never by the hour. He started work as soon as there was enough daylight and continued until well after the sun had set, sometimes putting up lights to finish the job. Mom brought lunch to the field, or we stopped long enough to wolf down a meal and then back to the job site; so I learned to eat fast too. Food was a means to satisfy the hunger pangs, not to decide what spices were used in its preparation.
Dad did spend time teaching us to hunt and trap and farm, skills that were needed to put food on the table and to make a little extra money from selling the hides. But somehow, as I entered the ministry, there wasn’t a lot of time for hunting; and I gradually lost my interest in it over the years. Today, with so many chemicals sprayed onto GMO crops, I don’t have a lot of faith in eating anything from the wild. I don’t trust a lot of food from the supermarkets either. I have even gotten too old to till a garden anymore, but may have to do that again as the one world order takes shape with America’s demise.
Dad was a harsh man. He led groups of rough men on the job site, and he carried that home to the family. When he barked, everyone jumped. It took me years to realize that he wasn’t being mean, he was just getting the job done. Consequently, Mom and Dad and my older sister fought a lot. There were suicidal attempts by Mom and Dad. I interrupted one when I was twelve. As a result of this, I was always fearful of authority figures. Teachers just had to speak harshly and I cowered into my introverted shell.
God had a plan though. He allowed Dad to buy an old age pension home, in my twelfth year of schooling, that he gutted and remodeled it into his home for the next thirty years. In the process, I met the mother of my children, who led me, my younger brother, and my Dad and Mom to the Lord, at a Pentecostal church in Lancaster, Ohio. Dad even rolled on the floor when he was baptized with the Holy Ghost. He was really an old-time ‘Holy Roller’. The Lord called me into the ministry and changed the ways of my folks. My brother and two older sisters all served the Lord in their own ways. Mom and Dad attended church faithfully until they went home to be with their Lord.
I have a lot to be thankful for from my Dad; and I give him credit often for my tenaciousness down through life. The lessons he taught me have stayed with me long after he has left the family circle. I appreciate all that he overcame to accomplish all that he did.
Dad even visited Mom, two years before her death and five years after Dad’s. Mom was lying in bed praying and she looked up at the ceiling; and there was Dad, smiling as he looked down at her, then he faded away. It was like he was trying to encourage her that all was going to be all right and she would be with him soon. Mom had several strokes and suffered the humiliation of a nursing home for two years before she went to be with Dad and Jesus. The Bible says that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12:1.
We are forbidden by Scripture to seek communication with the dead, for the reason that Jesus Christ is to be our only access to our Heavenly Father; but the very forbiddance signifies that they are nearby and may be watching more than we are aware of. Yahweh does allow the dead to visit us from time to time, for encouragement, and especially to meet us as we are escorted to heaven by the angels.
What are you thankful for about your father? Maybe you suffered a broken home and your father wasn’t always involved in your life as he should have been. Maybe your dad tried to make up for it in his later years by asking for forgiveness. Maybe he carries regrets that will go with him to his grave. What have you done to show him you have forgiven him and that you appreciate him for the things which he did do right in your life?
Today is Father’s Day, a day to honor Dad. In a world where 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. Where 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes. Where 85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes. Where 80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes. Where 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. 24 million children live in a home where the father is absent. That is one in three children without a dad in the home. The absence of a father in the home increases the chance of sexual identity problems. In a broken world of fatherless homes, in homes of same-sex couples, in homes of multiple partners, it is good to stop and pause to give thanks for the dads who have remained faithful and true to their wives and children, and to appreciate those who have overcome their mistakes from divorce to maintain the father-child relationship through it all.
God hates divorce and broken homes. The devil loves divorce. God wants to perpetuate His Truth to all future generations, through Mom and Dad, until the world is filled with His Knowledge from sea to sea. The devil wants to destroy that channel of unbroken communication of God’s Word, and insert ‘self’ as the only god to serve. You can see the world around you is broken and heading closer toward Armageddon each day. Our only hope is to repent of our wrong choices and turn toward what is right in the eyes of Our Heavenly Father, who is merciful to forgive and heal our individual wounds as well as the wounds of our country and world. We can start by acknowledging the right things that our earthly fathers have done, and recommitting our own lives to our Heavenly Father to do what is right before Him to spread the Truths of His Word to future generations. It’s Father’s Day!