Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: fathers (06/06/05)
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TITLE: IMSMYDAD | Previous Challenge Entry
By Billie Jean Millen
06/12/05 -
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The message on the car license plate in front of me didn’t make much sense at first. It read: IMSMYDAD. Then suddenly I knew: I Miss My Dad.
Instantly I felt kinship with the driver of that car. Just two weeks before, my dad had passed away leaving a great void in my life and the lives of my sons.
Dad stepped in after my divorce a number of years ago, to fill the empty space left by the absence of my ex-husband who chose to be uninvolved in his sons’ lives. He proved to be a tremendous influence for good. He loved the boys dearly and they returned the favor. They knew his love for them was genuine and deep. They could talk to him about anything and he’d listen and give them his best advice.
Times were hard for us and life was a struggle. There weren’t many bright spots for the kids. But the holidays were a different story. Mom and Dad were incredible. I still don’t know how they did it, but the boys will tell you, holidays there were the stuff of magic! Dad was the great socializer and mom cooked fabulous feasts. The boys felt enveloped by a warm cocoon of love and safety and as the family gathered the kids came alive. They loved it! It was magnificent and each visit seemed to have a transforming effect on the boys as wonderful memories were created and stored during each visit.
Mom and dad showed me what true heroes are. Financially they had little. But they had so much love. There was healing for others in that love. More than once people commented they didn’t know what a real family was supposed to feel like until they went to see mom and dad. That was both a high compliment to my folks and a sad commentary on today’s reality.
Dad came far in his lifetime. In his younger years, he got away from the Lord. But a true conversion changed that. He turned back to the Lord and served Him with zeal. The new life unfolding before me was beautiful to behold. He grew strong in the Lord.
Dad’s greatest concern for my sons was that they know Christ. He and mom often told the boys they prayed for them daily. As important as their physical and emotional welfare was to him, their spiritual condition mattered most. Dad’s own mom once said, not long before she passed away years ago, that as you approach the end of your life, the truly important things become very clear. I saw that belief reflected in dad as his heart disease and diabetes combined to overtake him. Though his illness progressed, he remained unswervingly faithful to the Lord and he continued to stress spiritual truths to all of us before he died.
Even during his last few weeks, when he was hospitalized much of the time, he would still speak to the doctors and nurses about Christ, wanting to win as many people to the Lord as he could, before he died. He could barely talk, but insisted on speaking to others about salvation. My sisters, who were present when he did this, marveled at the consistency of his walk and the depth of his faith. “….yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me…” Dad never doubted the Lord’s presence.
I miss him so much and so do the boys. Dad and Mom showed me you don’t have to be rich to have a house full of riches, life’s most important treasures have nothing to do with money or things, you don’t have to be famous to be a real hero; and what you do for others matters. Also, God loves us, He forgives us when we repent, and we can change. Even now, as I think of Dad, I am so thankful that he gave so bountifully of himself to be the influence he was.
At the visitation, as many people spoke of the positive influence dad had on their lives, I realized anew how our actions today influence and propel the tomorrows of others. Our legacies live on long after we depart and Dad’s is the kind of legacy I want. I’m so very thankful for all he did but IMSMYDAD.
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