Thoughts On Father's Day

On Father's Day, June 20th, 1999, my four brothers and two sisters and our families traveled in a funeral procession to a cemetery (a resting place) over on Winter's Chapel Road and planted the body of our beloved Daddy right next to our Mother who had gone ahead of him almost 14 years earlier.  On Friday, the 18th, we received the call from the extended care facility informing us that we should come there as soon as possible and I knew and was relieved that Daddy was out of his suffering but I didn't realize that as I saw that hearse from Bill Head Funeral Home back-up to that door that I would cry as I had not cried in almost fourteen years. In a way, I felt like an orphan.

I would like to, in this blog, to honor my Daddy. I loved my Daddy! As a young child, one of my most vivid memories of him would be when we would ride with Mother to pick-up Daddy from his job every afternoon. You see, back then, most families were "one-car families" (if even that) and Mother would take him to the General Motors Plant early in the morning and return with the car just in case she needed groceries or one of the kids fell out of a swing and broke their arm. (TRUE STORY). Around four in the afternoon, my sister, my brother, and I would call "shot-gun" and climb in the Chevrolet  for the ride back to Doraville to bring Daddy home after a hard day's work. We would roll the windows down (me, usually from the backseat, never being good at " shotgun") and listen for that familiar whistle and as we watched the men march out of the building, we would look with our eyes for our handsome Daddy. Here he would come with his GM uniform with "ED" written above the left-hand pocket, carrying his gray, tin lunchbox, empty for sure because my Mom was the best cook in the world!

Daddy was a hard worker beginning at an early age, working with his Daddy in the fields raising crops. Daddy's mother died in 1918 during the great flu pandemic that killed thousands all over the world. He was only 18 months old and life wasn't easy for him as a little child but he learned a good work ethic from his Daddy and we always had shelter, food, and clothing as we were growing up. Daddy had a generous heart and had a hard time saying "no."  Mom would laugh when we would approach her about something they were selling at school and would say "Children, go ask your Daddy, he is much more prone to say "yes" than I am." It was true- he just seemed to say it"gruffer." :)

When I was a little girl, I remember my Daddy preaching the Gospel. He could preach! In fact, in the summer of 1961, he preached and the Truth penetrated this little girl's heart by the Holy Spirit and a few weeks later, my Daddy baptized me as I took my public stand before the church and the world of Jesus' amazing grace and finished work for even one such as myself.  One of my favorite messages that he preached was from Ps. 106:13-15, concerning Israel's turning away from God, verse 15 saying this -"And He gave them their request: but sent leanness into their soul." Daddy entitled it - "They Got What They Wanted But Lost What They Had." I think about that, even 50 years later and still observe that often we sacrifice the greater for the lesser. There is treasure, manna, to be had but we crave the leeks and onions that we think Egypt offers, forgetting the bondage that accompanies it.

Yes, my Daddy was a preacher man and most Septembers when we returned to school, the other children spoke of vacations at the beaches or mountains and we reported that we went from revival to revival, day and night revivals too, I might add. That was good with us- it's all we knew and one summer Daddy and his visiting evangelist baptized, I believe, 30 plus people, souls who came to know the Lord in the prior week.  Daddy loved to watch his kids play ball and we all had a knack for doing so. My brother, Wayne, was the quarterback on the high school football team, the shortstop on the baseball team, and the point guard on the basketball team and now at age 60, I hear he still plays a mean game of golf.  I can hear Daddy in the stands now as he loudly proclaimed "Deb, shoot more, quit passing that ball when you have a shot."  I would think to myself, "Daddy, this is a team sport." (Maybe I should have played golf.)

Daddy's intentions were good, he supposing that he could spring me from mediocrity to excellence on the basketball court but the truth is, knowing and studying your children as individuals will enlighten us on what works with some and what is effective with others. Brothers and sisters, no doubt, inherit the DNA from their parents but God wires them with different personalities and temperaments, as Danny and I can testify about with our two. And the truth is too, that no parent is perfect because we are all fallible human beings but we have a PERFECT HEAVENLY FATHER!!

I loved my Daddy and quickly let me share a couple of my last memories. As Mother was taken suddenly,feeling fine, we thought, on one day, and gone two days later from a massive heart attack, we saw Daddy's health decline slowly and painfully. Some days, his mind was lucid and others, not so good but one day, about two weeks before his home going, he said to me, "Debba, I believe I can still remember the 23rd Psalm- will you help me if I get confused?"  "Of course,I will, Daddy, that is one of my favorites." "The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want....." he started and said it word perfect and we rejoiced together. The last time that I saw him before the morning of the expected call, he said, "Debba, I could have been a better Daddy" to which I replied, "Daddy, I could have been a better daughter and if I could have hand-picked a Daddy, you would have been my choice."  As I approached the door that night to go home to my family, our last words were that we loved each other. And he knew I did and I knew he did.  I will see him again because of what our great GOD has done on our behalf through the shed blood of His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. "Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." Eph. 3:21

Let me close by wishing any man who reads ( I know most of my readers are women) but Happy Father's Day to any man who reads today, especially to my own kids' Daddy. Danny, they know that they have the best Daddy and we all know that there is only one Grandanny!

Also, to Jeff, the Daddy to our two precious grandchildren, Happy Father's Day. One of my greatest joys and comforts as I lay my weary head on my pillow at night is to know that their Daddy loves God, loves their Mother,our precious Amy, and loves them. Thank you for raising them for the Lord. I loved to hear that Alicia just recently made the comment "Nobody loves their Bible better than my Daddy loves his." No greater legacy can be left for her and Landon than to know that!

To my firstborn, Mark, who is not a Dad yet and only God knows if that is in His plan but Son, you would be a very good one because you are a fine man and I love you so much.  Happy Father's Day to PaPa Samples who turned 80 this year and is still going for God even though the body is tired and failing. Thank you for your example, PaPa.

Finally, there is one who I think may read this blog because of a "little bird" named Darlene. You taught me in Sunday School when I was a little child and hear that you still faithfully do that today. You and Carolyn were so gracious to me and there were not many Sundays that you didn't ask me home with you and most of them, I accepted. (The ones that I said "no" to were probably because I asked Mom instead of Dad. She knew you could "wear out your welcome.":):):)   I remember introducing you to our Pastor at Daddy's funeral and he thanked you for the influence that you had in this lady's life and today, I thank you too, Gene, for helping create a hunger for God's Word. I still love that blessed Book today! I know that your three, Gary, Stanley, and Carol Jean honor you because you are a good and wise Daddy.

Well, just words from my heart to yours today concerning fathers. If you can see him or call him, do so. Some children missed out for one reason or the other and for that I am sad but trust the ALL WISE AND SOVEREIGN GOD.  Dawsonville buried one today, a 23 year old man who would have been a first time Daddy in December. I pray and trust that some Christian, as he was, will step up and be a Dad because the job is far more important than what some assume it to be. I didn't mean to end this in sermonizing but Danny and I heard statistics last week on the news of how many homes are being run by a single mother, some of them choosing it to be so, and others where Dad just is a no-show, either physically or emotionally. And we wonder about angry youths on the street?   They need you, Daddy, to love them, instruct them, encourage them, discipline them, be there for them. 

And to end, here's the encouraging thought -  Remember, I said that I felt like an orphan because now, both parents were gone. Well, sooner or later, all flesh will fail you,either by choice or by leaving this earth when God beckons but we have a HEAVENLY FATHER WHO loves perfectly, instructs perfectly, encourages perfectly, disciplines perfectly and is eternal and has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. HALLELUJAH!!

Looking up, Deborah