I went to Virginia last week to visit my dad who is getting ready to go Home to glory. At age 90 He is dying of cancer, old age, and pain. We had a great visit. On the flight back, I thought that since I wouldn’t see him again this side of Paradise, maybe a letter from me in, every other day, might encourage him and help him to accept his condition & be able to leave this world in peace. I am sorry that he doesn’t live out here, where he belongs, so we could minister to him in person. There is still a lot I want to to tell him, but he can only take so much at a time. So I thought I would write a number of letters, and prayerfully he might be blessed by my impressions and inspirations from our last time together.
I am going to share them with you as well in a blog series entitled
“Letters for Dad”. I hope they will bring to you comfort, inspiration, hope, and the joy of looking forward to our new home with Jesus. He is preparing that place even now.
Letter #1
March 7, 2014 Hey Dad, — Just Got Home!
Sorry to hear that you had a tough night. It sounds like things are going to get better today.
It was wonderful seeing you for one last time this side of Paradise. I enjoyed our day alone most of all. It was great remembering with you, kind of reliving your history, our history, laughing and crying together. So much of what we talked about resonates with my soul, most of all our common commitment to Christ and how it all came about.
You left home in Virginia to join the navy, fight in the war alongside your greatest generation brothers and sisters. I can’t tell you how proud I am of you and your participation in the greatest naval invasion in history. You were there at Normandy and experienced the horror of war. And then you went on to the Pacific theater to help launch the Marines on island after island. God was with you and the Navy, giving you miracle after miracle, victory after victory, always sparing your life in some of the greatest naval battles of all time.
Then you met mom and she would change your life forever. And you would save her from the life of misery that would have surely been hers if she had followed in the path of her family. But you rescued her from all of that and gave her the stability and love that she so desperately needed. There is no doubt in my mind that it was God’s plan for you both.
Next thing you know you had 3 kids in tow.
You mentioned how when we first met your heart was blessed to hold me. And now having embraced you for the last time in this dark, fallen world, we blessed each other again, knowing this was not the last hug, because the best hugs are still before us. For you it is just around the corner. Who knows, it might be for me too. Only God knows. He is the source of our confidence. Because of Jesus our re-union is assured. By the way, you always gave the best hugs!
We talked about your mom, Lillian and her faith – in Jesus. She was determined to have me baptized. While we moved out west and she never stopped praying for us. We never left her heart. It was her prayers that Jesus finally answered by penetrating my life, mind heart and soul, setting the new course for my life, a course that would alter our family history for all eternity.
As a new Christian my first desire was to share with you and mom so that you would become a part of my new found Family in Christ. Remember those long talks we had in the back yard? You were my first convert, the first one that I ever led to the Lord. And then soon mom followed.
Your mother’s persistence in prayer was beginning to bear fruit. It took a few decades, but she persisted in prayer & won the victory. Now 45 years later, you are on the precipice of that last step of faith, to leave your old body behind, and be set free to join your mother and my mother in that place that Jesus called Paradise. In the blink of an eye, you will be there.
I love you dad, and I will never forget! – Mike
Matthew 10:28-31 (with a few modifications)
28 “Don’t be afraid of that cancer that wants to kill your body; It cannot touch your soul.
We fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
29 What is the price of two sparrows— one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without our Father knowing it.
30 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.
31 So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than all the critters in the whole world.
Corum Deo, Pastor Mike