Today is my dad’s Birthday. When our Sabbatical was first mentioned, I submitted my ministry project….I wanted to take my dad on “THE Roadtrip of a Lifetime!”. Dad loved the open road. He loved to go places and see new things. I felt that it would be an incredible trip and I suspected it would be his last as I knew that his health was beginning to become more frail. So, I selected June for my Sabbatical so I could be on the road with dad on his birthday—which is today, June 12th. I wanted it to be a great “last trip” for my dad. The Lord had better plans for dad. December 2nd, dad enter into the presence of the Lord and I know for sure that he’d rather be there than on an old lonely highway somewhere here. My day started early as I went to the cemetery to water the grass. I also brought a “cupcake Happy Birthday” helium balloon (dad loved his sweets!) and a CATERPILLAR Tractor (where he worked for 30 years).
I then met up with my sister over at mom’s house. Nancy had a GREAT idea. Nancy gets all of the credit on this one. She bought several bouquet of flowers and we took them to each of the houses that we lived in when we were children. We blessed each house with a pretty bouquet and then we also prayed over each of them. Out of 4 stops, only 1 was not home. Our first stop was in the south end of Peoria on Kneer Street. The lady just beamed with joy when she learned that we were bringing her flowers.
Our next stop was the “nobody home” house on Rustic Rd in East Peoria. So, I hope they were pleasantly surprised when they came home to a card / flowers on their front porch.
Next stop was Apple Tree Lane. Mr Williams was SO touched and thrilled that he insisted that we come into the home and look around. So, I checked out my old bedroom that I had when I was around 6 + 7 yrs old. In that bedroom, one of my greatest memories is that our cat had her kittens under my bed (it was a “Captains Bed” with a large open/storage drawer under it). We learned that his wife had passed away several years earlier, and more recently his son…and then his son’s best friend (which was like his own kid). He’d suffered much loss over the last 5 years. He was so touched that we came to visit him. We were there for about an hour just talking and sharing stories.
The last home we stopped at was the house that I really did “grow up” in on Smith Street in Creve Coeur. We lived there from my 4th grade–High School graduation. It was there that I was a paperboy for 8 years and then went off to the US Navy when I was 17 yrs old. The lady answered the door and I think “maybe….” she was a bid scared of us. She did let us pray for her. I’m not really sure she could hear us because she had 2 very loud yapping dogs that we were trying to talk over. But….in the least, she did get a pretty bouquet of flowers and also prayed over. She couldn’t hear what we were saying…..but, no doubt she understood what we were trying to do.
So…..I didn’t get to go on the road trip with dad. But—-today on dad’s birthday, we were able to be a blessing to several families.
I love my dad so much. He was my best friend. He was the “Best Man” in my wedding. I miss him like crazy, but I’m so glad that I had him for my 47 years. Here we are sitting on his front steps last summer.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!