Memories of Dad

Rain was lightly falling as I walked out of the grocery store this afternoon. I didn’t hurry as I enjoyed the quiet drops. They brought back a memory of my dad.

Forty-nine years ago, my dad ran into the house on a Saturday afternoon after a full day of fishing with my uncle. He was laughing, and as he shook the drops from a spring rain from his head he said, “Got my head wet in the first spring rain. I will be well all year!” After that, he took a shower and went to get his hair cut before Sunday.

He had a massive heart attack and died in the barber’s chair.

Although they revived him and kept him alive with machines for a week, those were the last words that I heard my dad say. “I will be well all year!”

It was hard to lose my dad while I was still a teenager, but he was ready to go. We found out later that he had asked God to let him live long enough to see all his children graduate. I was the youngest, and my graduation from junior college took place while we were keeping vigil in the hospital. He had seen all of us through high school with a bonus of two years.

Before you think I am being maudlin and sad, let me assure you that I am not. Even then I realized that I was blessed. You see, I had more of my dad in nineteen years than many people have in sixty. He worked every day. He came home every night. He chauffeured me to church activities and school. He insisted on picking me up when I had night classes; he did not want me to walk to the car in the dark by myself.

During the last two years of his life, I watched my dad grow in relationship with the Lord. I saw him read his Bible and pray. I went to church meetings with him and sang his favorite song for him. Ironically, the title of the song was “An Unfinished Task”. The last phrase in the song is “Don’t let me leave behind an unfinished task.”

He didn’t.

His faithfulness set an example for my life.

⁴ And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4, KJV)