Apologetics

Living in Our Earthly Tents

by Jeff Drinnan
08/08/20
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Late spring I paid tribute to my Father, whom God took home May 24, 2018. He is buried right next to my Mother, whom God took home years before my Dad. Reflecting on my Mom and Dad's life reminds me why God put us on earth. As the Wesminister Catechism states: "What is the chief end of man? A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God,[1]and to enjoy him forever. [2]"

I have been among the homeless in Bucks County, PA for a season. I've come to realize that in a sense we are all homeless. "For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands." - 2 Corinthians 5:1

Of course I remember everyday, earthly things my parents did, but they left me with spiritual values. They both were Bible believing Christians and practiced what they preached. They brought me up in the amonition of the Lord.

One of the many things my Mother left with me is the phrase "God is not the author of sin." She taught me respect for women. When we were kids, my mother found a playboy centerfold my brother and I had found. "A woman is not an object", she chastized. In a letter she sent me when I was headed for combat in Vietnam, she wrote "safety is not the absence of danger, but the presence of God."

Decades ago, a single guy who moved to our area in order to attend the church my folks attended. I remember the guy telling me he appreciated that my mother not only prayed for him, but found him an apartment.

Although in this life nothing will be perfect, my parents had a good marriage. My mother died in her sleep. That night before my folks went to bed, my Mom thanked my Dad for doing a chore she asked him to do.

My Dad was there through thick and thin. He disciplined me when I was bad, but was always there for me. Dad played baseball with me and my brother, sister and I, which he referred to as "my three sons." He introduced me to the woods, which I grew to love. When other families went to the shore, Dad took the family camping. I am the oldest. When I was little, Dad used to take me for walks in the woods in the Lorraine Gardens section of Somerton, PA, which, in the late 50s, still had woods, with, Rusty, our cocker spaniel. It was a magical time. I remember walking past the forts where there were big kids (ten years old and up). I had no fear of them; a bigger kid was with me. Abandoned railroad tracks seemed to magically appear in the woods, as if that's the only place they were.

For the longest time, Dad told me the story where Rusty used to swim in the pond at Fisher's Pool, where ducks also swam. After ducks got used to swimming in their pool, they let him swim with them. Rusty became an honorary duck. He was the lead duck, the point of the V.

Although I rebelled against the Christian faith, Dad continued to bring me up in the faith, not just by word, but by example. He never presented himself as being perfect, but a sinner saved by grace. Dad lived his faith. He was committed to my mom and us kids. Today I continue to grow in the faith. Dad planted the seed. Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. When I viewed Dad to pay my respects, he looked peaceful. When a friend asked me if my Dad feared death, I said no because he knows where he is going. For my Dad, death had no sting! He had returned to the Lord.

"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant!" -Matthew 25:23