Father's Day 2009

Tomorrow is Father's Day. It will be a difficult day for me. It will be the first Father's Day that I no longer have a living father-in-law, a father, or even my brother who was a great father. I will especially miss being able to wish my father a happy Father's Day and to sit down and just talk with him. I really miss those special discussions because dad had such great wisdom. Tomorrow will even be more difficult because it would have also been dad's birthday - number 92. We probably would have gone to Wendy's to eat, after church. I enjoyed those weekly times together. Quite often on his birthday we would be together at Pinebrook, but Pinebrook starts a week later this year. There we would celebrate his birthday with Kendy's family and Craig's family, enjoying cake and homemade ice cream. Two years ago we celebrated his 90th birthday a few days later, on July 3, when almost the entire family met at his home in Lititz. It was a special day with many great memories. Now all I have are those great memories and pictures. My father was a special person and I wish that I could thank him once again. We had a special relationship. He never attended events that I was in when I was growing up, mainly because he was busy working several jobs to put food on the table. And, I understood that. He never commended me or said he was proud of me, but I knew he was. I've since found out that our lives and activities were so very similar that he probably expected I would do those things and do them well, just as he had. But none of this ever bothered me because he showed me God through his life and he was my hero for that reason. Earlier this week I heard a song that brought tears to my eyes. I wish I could share it with my father tomorrow on Father's Day. If these words are true in your life, please tell your dad this tomorrow. "Thank you dad for showing me the Father, I see His love in everything you do. Like a clear reflection in the water, I've always seen the Father in you. (1) Through the years you've painted me the picture of a heavenly father I could see. His loving ways became so familiar, because dad you made the Father real to me. Thank you dad for showing me the Father, I see His love in everything you do. Like a clear reflection in the water, I've always seen the Father in you. (2) You sang the grand old hymns and read the story. Every night you prayed on bended knee. Following your steps I've seen the Father, and His amazing grace now lives in me. Thank you dad for showing me the Father, I see His love in everything you do. Like a clear reflection in the water, I've always seen the Father in you." ....... So, dad, in case you can hear or see me, thank you and have a very Happy Birthday and a great Father's Day as you share it with your Heavenly Father who you modeled to me.