My dad is with Jesus

For obvious reasons, I didn't get around to posting this last week. My dad passed away in the early morning hours of January 12th 2009. He fought valliantly, but is suffering no longer. He is no doubt in heaven now!

Here is part of the text from my statement for his children at his memorial service (I'll post the full text later):

We are here to honor: Our Friend, Our Sergeant, Our Mentor, Our Pal, Our Teacher, Our Guide, Our Favorite Comedian, Our Ally, Our Confidant, Our honest guide, Our encourager, Our Rock, Our life wise sage, Our loving Dad!

Dad never met a stranger, ever. He had a way of disarming even the roughest, hardest person with a smile or funny comment. Drs or nurses would ask how he was feeling and he would always remark “Fingers and toes”. If you ever called the house, you were greeted with “This is me, is that you”. People were just drawn to him as if he was a magnet. You couldn’t resist his personality.

He served his country faithfully and loved it dearly, but he loved his Savior Jesus Christ much more. It was obvious to me even as a young child that God had taken a hold of his life and changed him forever.
I think Phil 3:13 and 14 describe how dad’s focus changed: “..Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

When this long running disease took a hold of him, he set in his mind that he would use it to impact family, friends, and anyone he met for Christ. He was such a positive influence on so many. Most of us would dread the constant Blood transfusions and needles, dad looked at it as an accomplishment. “I made it to 100 units” he would say. He chose to let the joy of Jesus shine through him in a difficult time instead of dwelling on the temporary suffering.

I have no doubt that my earthly father is walking the streets of gold and worshiping at the feet of our heavenly father.

To paraphrase 2 Timothy 4:7 he fought the good fight, he finished the race, he kept the faith.