Dad checking his emails all morning on his iPhone in California. Coolest 81 year old techie!
Long hours and hard work were no stranger to him.
Raised on a tractor from the day he could reach the pedals, he toiled under the hot Kansas sun.
With his mom, grandma and three little sisters in the house, he gladly left the dolls and tea parties for the barn and fields.
Time spent with his dad, time to earn a little money, time to develop into a man.
At this tender age my boys were chasing ducks in the park, flying through the house as super heroes, and playing sports.
Their chores consisted of setting the table, folding their clothes, and the nightly game we played. It was called “Pick up your toys before daddy gets home.”
Boyhood left early on the dairy. Sunrise milking flowed into feeding the cattle, pigs, and horses. Then toil in the fields, faded back into evening milking, family dinner and early bed.
Day after day of sameness, was punctuated with bouts of extreme heat or frigid cold. But no matter the weather, the milking had to be done!
He and his hardworking dad had a few hours of respite on the much anticipated Saturday nights. He couldn’t wait each week to head to town for the fifteen-cent movie. Presidential initiatives, war updates, and local advertising flashed before them.
He escaped the daily grind through the cartoons and cowboy heroes he viewed, washing away the present and offering a few hours of relief and relaxation.
His imagination caught during the newsreels. The tractor daydreams, of someday soaring above these fields would later become a reality as an air force officer and pilot.
By the time I came along, he had left the air force for management in the business world. He worked long retail hours but was always deep in study, and a Sunday preacher for small area congregations.
Though not a man for speaking his feelings, his actions run deeper than any words. His spiritual example and steadfast devotion to his Lord will ever be etched in my mind.
The story of his life altering conversion as a college student, was told over and over until easily recited by us all.
Your walk with God is the only thing that really matters.
He never said the words, but I heard it loud and clear.
Thank you Dad for the spiritual legacy you passed to me.
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Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
-What can you do to leave a spiritual legacy to your own children, grandchildren, friends or congregants?
-Begin today.