Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: fathers (06/06/05)
-
TITLE: My Father (ii) | Previous Challenge Entry
By Larry Toller
06/10/05 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
He was William to his teachers, Tolly to his family, and Bill to his friends.
When he was three, his father and mother were divorced.
He would see his father again only two times throughout the rest of his life.
His mother was still young.
She preferred working and socializing to raising a child.
So, Tolly was raised in a house full of aunts and uncles, by his grandparents, Cora and Gus.
One day, when Tolly was twelve years old, he was rummaging through some old papers he found in a closet. As he unfolded a single sheet of paper, he read words that broke his heart . . . "Oren and Nina . . ., having no children, were granted a divorce."
Tolly felt totally disowned.
A year later, a pastor led him to know Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior. My earthly father met my heavenly father.
In April of 1952, Bill married Joan and one year and three months later
became a father
. . . my father.
On my tenth birthday my grandmother hurt my feelings with a mean comment. My dad pulled me on his lap and comforted me. It would be the last time I would sit on his lap. My first memory of life itself was sitting on his lap.
On this day, he embraced me and said that ten years ago
I had made him the happiest person on earth,
and how very special I was.
I really didn't understand what he was saying until April 10th, 1978,
when I became a father.
My parents attended church regularly after I was born.
But something happened. . .
My father was doing some volunteer work in the attic of the church. It was August in Texas. The only way in and out of that dirty, hot attic was through the pastor's study. When my dad came down to get some tools, the pastor said, "Hurry up! You're getting my office dirty."
At that moment,
my dad left that church and all churches.
In January of my senior year our youth group had a retreat and my Sunday school teacher asked me to come outside and talk to him.
He shared with me that many of the men of the church were very concerned about my dad, and wanted to come visit him.
I warned him that would just turn him off.
But we did pray together
. . .for my dad.
On the following Monday, I came home from school and my mother was crying. When I asked what was wrong she told me that my dad was coming back to church.
On Wednesday he joined our church and on Sunday an all out effort was made to get men like my dad to church
. . . to hear him tell his story.
That Sunday he shared about an encounter with a man. In the conversation the man quoted the scripture:
"You're either for God or against Him."
My dad went through the morning with this scripture echoing through his mind as he argued with himself:
"I'm not against God!
. . . but I'm not for God.
. . . he who is not for God is against God."
Finally, the struggle led him to our pastor and with our pastor,
he got on his knees,
and my father was reconciled to God.
My father grew as a Christian,
reading and studying his Bible.
In July, 1986, at the age of fifty-six,
the Lord called my dad home to heaven.
I don't know why but he did.
I trust the Lord's judgment.
There have been times when I've achieved something
or something special has happened,
and I think about calling to let him know.
But I can't,
so I ask Jesus to share it with my dad and
tell him I love him.
He was born.
He grew to manhood through adversity and strife.
He fell in love and married.
He raised a loving family.
He completed his life.
He was my father,
my friend,
and a witness to me and many others
through a life changed by the power of the love of God.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
