Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: ADEPT (10/19/23)
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TITLE: He Chose A More Excellent Way | Previous Challenge Entry
By Mariane Holbrook
10/22/23 -
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He was adept at many things but epitomized all the qualities Jesus wanted his followers to practice. Always loving, sympathetic, patient, and encouraging, people of all ages were drawn to Daddy like bears to beehives.
He was so loved by his seven children that even after we had reached adulthood, we still called him or referred to him as "Daddy." It made us feel closer to him, a reminder that we had his precious genes in our bodies.
His godly mother became a widow when Daddy was in sixth grade, so he quit school to help support the family. The only available employment was as a pipe-fitter on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, a sweaty, unpleasant job in a large facility where the summer temperatures often reached 112 degrees. Windows could not be opened, and the heat was unbearable. He remained at that job for over 40 years because of his limited public education. He worked through the Great Depression for 45 cents an hour and continued working until all 7 of his children had attended college.
During the Depression, his fellow employees asked him to teach a Bible study class during lunch every day. They were in financial crisis situations and needed prayer. The number of attendees grew until there was no longer room for more.
Daddy was asked to be a lay pastor in a small, nearby village known as the county's poorest. Daddy, who never owned a car, walked 2 miles on the railroad tracks every Sunday afternoon to reach the small brick church. He would remain until after preaching the evening service when a member would drive him home. He was so loved by the small congregation that he served as their pastor for several years. In addition to being on the Executive Board at his home church, he taught an adult Sunday School class and participated in all church activities.
As children, we loved walking the tracks with Daddy and, after his afternoon service, enjoyed supper at different members' homes.
Nearly every Saturday, Daddy would walk to the local hospital. Carrying his dog-eared, well-worn Bible, he walked down the halls and waved at those patients whose doors were open. One patient after another invited him in to read the Bible and pray with them. Many patients became Daddy's friends after discharge and often came to our home to seek advice and pray.
Pastors in our hometown knew him well, and he often was asked to fill their pulpits when they went on vacation. He rode the train to several towns to preach for other pastors who needed him. Denominational disparities did not concern him.
Before his children went to Bible colleges or state universities, he would invite the family into the living room at least once a week. "I'd like to have 'family altar" now, but I understand if you have other things you must do now."
One by one, Daddy would ask if we had things we needed to pray about: situations at our schools, prayer for friends who needed Jesus, unspoken prayers for ourselves. He jotted down each request in a small notebook to recall each one in the days ahead.
He let us volunteer to pray aloud and didn't pressure us to pray. After several had prayed, he would wait for about a minute, then begin his own prayer, always starting with, "Our dear, gracious, heavenly Father." Preferring Old English terms out of respect for God's divinity, Daddy always used "thee," "thou," "thy," and "thine" in his prayers.
He arose every morning at 5:00 a.m. to spend an hour alone in the kitchen with Jesus, in prayer, meditation, and Bible reading. He would wake Mother at 6:00 so they could pray together, then Mother would cook his hearty breakfast, pack his lunch in his black dinner pail, and then get us 7 children ready for school or play. Daddy walked a mile to the stop where he rode the bus to his job on the railroad.
When I was 3 years old, Mother would stand on our front porch every weekday afternoon at 3:30 to watch me walk to the corner to meet Daddy coming home from work. I'd scream, "Daddy boy!" with delight, jump into his arms, and bury my face in his sooty shirt. I loved the smell of that shirt.
That was my Daddy who excelled as a representative of his Lord.
Nonfiction.
"Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge." (2 Peter 1:5 KJV)
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