Dear Dad,

Twice this week in my Bible reading I have come across verses that make me think of you. I gave you one passage on the phone last night, but I wanted to share them both with you in separate posts with some additional thoughts. I have been reading in the Names of God Bible and appreciate the different perspective it provides to familiar verses.

Two verse pairs in Psalm 71 serve as a reminder that God is at work in our lives from conception to old age. First in verses 5 and 6:

You are my hope, O Adonay Yahweh.

You have been my confidence ever since I was young.

I depended on you before I was born.

You took me from my mother's womb.

My songs of praise constantly speak about you.

Then following in verses 17 and 18:

O Elohim, you have taught me ever since I was young,

and I still talk about the miracles you have done.

Even when I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O Elohim.

Let me live to tell the people of this age

what your strength has accomplished,

to tell about your power to all who will come.

What I think as I read these is that there is still ministry for you to accomplish in this season of life. God blessed you with many gifts and abilities to use for Him, including the preaching and teaching and counseling you carried out during 40+ years as a pastor. But He also gave you the gift of writing and communication, and a lifetime of stories about His faithfulness. You can still tell the "people of this age" what His strength has accomplished! And I believe it would be a blessing to many.

I am not sure exactly what it would look like, if it would be on paper or a dedicated blog (Terri or I could help you set that up) or a journal you type on your laptop. If writing or typing becomes difficult, it could be recorded and later transcribed. Where there's a will, there's a way! What I'm hoping is to start with the "will." :)

I will share the second passage in another post.

All my love,

Stephanie

Dear Dad,

I enjoyed talking to you on the morning of Eva's birthday, and imagining you and Mom in your flowered attired and flipflops (though I doubt those made the cut!) at your Hawaiian mystery tea that afternoon. It makes me happy to know you are sharing special moments together as a couple and with a church family that loves you. It also brings me joy to see my daughters delighting in conversation with their Pop-Pop and Mom-Mom. I give thanks to God for His grace gift of a godly and loving family. 

Moments like these that we might have taken for granted before your diagnosis, take on added significance now. They have always been blessings but now they are cherished more than ever. I need the reminder to "stop and smell the roses" when life seems to be full to the brim and running over. To appreciate each moment, and make each moment count.

Yesterday I read a poem written by a young man whose moments seem to have run out too soon. Unbeknownst to us, he and his wife began attending our home church in Michigan last December. When we heard about him through a friend, Pedro realized this was one of his 4th-grade students from a long-term substitute position years ago. He went home to be with the Lord this week at the age of 23. I thought of you when I considered his words:

People say with albeit good intentions
That if God heals me then His glory will be shown,
But people often hesitate to mention
The other side of His omniscient throne.

For God to show His power through healing
Would be glorious if it were His will,
But it would also be maybe too appealing
For perhaps my faith would stand too still.

For in truth I want all to realize in whole
That I care not what this ailment does
Because I truly believe in full
That God knew it all before it was.

And in trusting Him I would gladly endure
One thousand years of agony and strife
In order to witness the most glorious cure
Of Christ coming into just one more person’s life.

                                                                - Elliott Orr

I was encouraged to remember again "that God knew it all before it was" and has a plan for our faith and that of others through your health challenges. I pray for God to strengthen your heart to remain positive and purposeful day by day. Remember that catchy song you played for us when we were little called "Kids Under Construction?" It said the Lord wasn't finished with us yet ... nor is He finished with you!

I love you,

Stephanie