My Dad, June 29

I had every intention of posting about my dad for Father’s Day. As per usual, I got caught up in something else and didn’t even remember that it was Father’s Day. My dad so often gets the short end of every stick, although you’d never hear him complain. So, on this day – the day he became my earthly father, my birthday – I want to honor him. In keeping with the purpose of this blog – to address the issues of grief and healing along with the mission work God has called me to – allow me to write a little about my father.

A father never stops being a father. When Rick died, my father cried all the tears I couldn’t. He cried for the ache in his little one’s heart. He cried because he couldn’t fix it. He cried because he couldn’t be a substitute. When Rick died, my father wrestled with his desire to protect me and to give me over to the great Protector. We’re still working on that one. A father never stops being a father.

I am my father’s daughter. So many of the things I love about life, I learned from my father. My passion for the great outdoors came from many years of camping. My love of motorcycles and snowmobiles came from him too. My dad challenged me to go on my first roller coaster at Cedar Point, the Mine Ride, and then the next, the Gemini. My dad is the reason Duncan Donuts made it on my list of 50 Things I’m Thankful For. He used to take me for donuts every Sunday morning before church, a very special one-on-one time. Peanut butter pie made it on that list because of him too, mostly because we both love anything with peanut butter. I am my father’s daughter.

They say men marry women like their mother and women marry men like their father. Rick had many of the qualities my father has. This sense of adventure you see in me originated from my father and was perpetuated with my husband. The boldness to face My Second Year and to respond to God’s call on my life is the result of the way my father and husband showed me the Father. I have been so blessed to have two of the most important men in my life unknowingly and synergistically drawing me closer to my heavenly Father.

If you have seen me, you have seen the Father (John 14:5-14). I love you, dad!