Happy Birthday, Dad
Today would have been my Dad’s 76th birthday. On May 5th, 2008, the Lord considered his earthly work done and took him home. His years among us were bittersweet for there were years of wandering and estrangement. Years of pain and separation.
But he finished well. His last days were spent in relative isolation in Danville, VA, where he spent untold hours walking and praying, calling on Heaven for those with whom he came in contact.
Upon entering his little apartment just hours after his death, my brother and I found list after list of names and concerns about which he had been praying. On his dresser beside his bed rested surely the last things his saw this side of eternity – they were pictures of family and a prayer list.
I’m so very thankful that God allowed me to have him for those last years – those good years.
And I’m even more thankful for the knowledge that my father is through with the earthly birthday celebrations and is praising his Heavenly Father around the Throne.
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Dan, whether I was actually on one of those lists or not, your Dad’s calls and texts to me during the last year of his life, to tell me that he was praying for me and my family, was a great source of comfort and inspiration. His sense of humor was still quite the same, but he was very serious when he told me of praying for us while on his daily walks through the cemetery. His concern for us showed and it was appreciated more than he probably knew.
Thanks for your comment, Phil. Your family, and Kelly in particular, was on many prayer lists. I never spoke to him without him asking about your family. He loved you all very much and your travail weighed heavy on his heart.