My father was a great man. He passed away in 2003, so I can use the past tense. I say he was a great man because everyone who knew him liked him, loved him, wanted to be around him and was positively influenced by him. I cannot judge my father simply by my relationship with him. It is difficult, for example, as you are bailing out the sinking boat, to notice the great workmanship on the bucket. While people are in relationship it is difficult to see the forest for the trees.
Now that he has been gone for more than ten years, I can be more objective and see how my father has shaped me and made me into the man I am today. Looking at my father’s life through the eyes of his contemporaries helps me to be objective. So this father’s day I will recount some of the great things my father did.
He instilled in his boys and wife a love for God and for church. Even with a church of over 300 he was in the midst of the inner workings. He was very interested in doing things right and doing the right things because, if the church was God’s place, it had to be treated right and run right. There were strong willed people in the church when I was growing up. Everyone from union bosses, lawyers, carpenters and construction workers and business owners. There were rich and poor all working together and my father helped everywhere he could, led when he felt the call and followed when it was best. Through it all, he spoke highly of the church and God’s people and always loved God. His family learned that from him.
He believed people needed to work hard to get anything. My father worked for one company his whole life. Pacific Gas and Electric was where he worked for 40 years. He started as a lineman when he was 17 and took time off for the Navy, but went right back to P.G. & E. He worked hard for that company, he worked hard at church, he worked for what he got and never accepted or looked for a handout. Even though we were poor when I was growing up, my father would never have allowed us
to go on government assistance. I remember the joy when he bought his first house, the only house he ever owned. It took all he had to make the mortgage payments, but he did it. Along the same lines, he taught his family conservative values and an early distrust for the ACLU and the government.
Finally, he loved his family. All that he did, he did for his family and when he could not work anymore, he would speak fondly of times past with his family. He taught me how to treat a woman and I am happily married. He taught me about God and now I am a pastor. He taught me all I needed to succeed in this world, and I have. Thanks dad.
#Thoughts on Fathers day#
Now that he has been gone for more than ten years, I can be more objective and see how my father has shaped me and made me into the man I am today. Looking at my father’s life through the eyes of his contemporaries helps me to be objective. So this father’s day I will recount some of the great things my father did.
He instilled in his boys and wife a love for God and for church. Even with a church of over 300 he was in the midst of the inner workings. He was very interested in doing things right and doing the right things because, if the church was God’s place, it had to be treated right and run right. There were strong willed people in the church when I was growing up. Everyone from union bosses, lawyers, carpenters and construction workers and business owners. There were rich and poor all working together and my father helped everywhere he could, led when he felt the call and followed when it was best. Through it all, he spoke highly of the church and God’s people and always loved God. His family learned that from him.
He believed people needed to work hard to get anything. My father worked for one company his whole life. Pacific Gas and Electric was where he worked for 40 years. He started as a lineman when he was 17 and took time off for the Navy, but went right back to P.G. & E. He worked hard for that company, he worked hard at church, he worked for what he got and never accepted or looked for a handout. Even though we were poor when I was growing up, my father would never have allowed us
Finally, he loved his family. All that he did, he did for his family and when he could not work anymore, he would speak fondly of times past with his family. He taught me how to treat a woman and I am happily married. He taught me about God and now I am a pastor. He taught me all I needed to succeed in this world, and I have. Thanks dad.
#Thoughts on Fathers day#
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