thinking about fathers

As we approach Father's Day, I, of course, am thinking of my father, now in heaven. He's pictured here with his firstborn daughter. Look at the joy in his eyes. He was separated from her the first month of her life. The night she was born, he hopped on an overnight train to arrive in Chicago early Sunday morning, where he preached his very first sermon in his new church. I'm not sure if my sister came late or early, but the timing of her arrival was interesting, I can't imagine the stress this young minister must have been under--to go through labor and delivery with his beloved wife, meet his new baby, and then begin his career the next morning 800 miles away! A month later, when baby and mother had gotten settled in their new relationship, my father proudly brought them, again by train, to their new life. There was no parsonage. That first year they lived with different families in the church. Times were sure different then. My father always worked hard, spent little, and gave sacrificially. Rather than spending anything he inherited, he put it to work to make more. He never made a great salary and did not have a "retirement package." But as a result of his hard work, my mother is provided for as she lives into her nineties. As the Gardener and I care for my mother, we are grateful to my dad for his wisdom in thinking about the future. What an example he continues to be for us!