It's more than this upcoming birthday that has my Dad on my mind today. I've been thinking about God's amazing love and grace, and that made me think of Dad. He was a poster child for that grace.
My grandmother died at an early age, so Dad was on his own by age 15. Education wasn't an option but he was smart and worked hard at everything he ever did. He married early, started a family not long after, and managed to carve out a living through hard work and dependability. He was a good father and a solid provider, and it's hard to find words to describe how much he loved his family.
Dad was not a Christian as a young man. As far as I know any thoughts of God were far from his mind. While he wasn't working or involved in family activity, he liked to have a good time in ways that were somewhat removed from what most of us would think of as a Christian lifestyle. But over the course of 1963, God began to pour out His grace in our family and things dramatically changed. The details are more than what I can include in this blog, but suffice to say the circumstances could only have been orchestrated by God.
It started when my older sister accepted the Lord. Then it was me, and a younger brother, then my Mom got "saved". Over the months while all this was happening it became increasingly obvious that God was doing a work in my Dad's heart as well. In fact he was under the intense conviction of the Holy Spirit. Finally Dad gave in and accepted the love and grace of God in his life. It was a remarkable transformation that could only have happened through the supernatural work of God.
Dad never did anything half way, so from the moment he made the choice to accept Jesus he was all in. Overnight he quit drinking. He quit swearing. He quit partying and fighting. In fact to me it seems the biggest struggles he faced as a new believer were not changes in his own life, but discovering and dealing with the fact that not every Christian is "all in". It bothered him a lot, and in all of his life I don't believe he was ever able to truly overcome the inner turmoil he felt over Christians who, in his eyes at least, compromised their Christian values or were halfhearted in their commitment to God.
He was not a perfect man, but he loved God. For almost half a century he truly served God to the best of his ability. In his middle years, again by God's grace, he overcame more than one life threatening health issue. The fact that he lived a productive life to age 85, with a healthy and active mind right to the end, surprised many including his doctors. Today he lives in the presence of the God he served faithfully on Earth for close to 50 years. My Dad's life stands as a wonderful testimony of what God can do. It is one example of the amazing grace and love of Jesus. I, and so many others are recipients of that grace as well as the Holy Spirit continued to work throughout our family.
What's the point of all of this? Each of us has a story, and as followers of Jesus each of us has a story of the truly amazing love and grace of God in our lives. Unfortunately our sense of awe over what God has done sometimes fades a bit. It's like a precious metal that has been neglected and lost its shine.
Today I'm polishing the silver,so to speak. I'm bringing to mind the wonderful work God did in my family. I'm realizing anew how blessed we are when we are the recipients of God's grace. I'm feeling just a bit overwhelmed just now that God reached down one day and transformed our lives. He called us His children and began to prepare an eternal home for us in His presence.
I need to think about this more. I need to appreciate more what God has done for me. Instead I so often take for granted the incredible love of God and the supernatural work He did in my family, in my life. That's a tragedy.
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