Psalm 139:16

Psalm 139:16 “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

Micah 6:8 “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

A year ago, my dad called and got the ball rolling on a family reunion for this summer to celebrate my parents’ fiftieth anniversary, which was this past Christmas. This would be the first time my brother, sister and I would be together in twelve years. We compared work and kids’ school schedules and picked the end of June for everyone to go to my parents’ house in Montana.

On Memorial Day weekend, about a month before our reunion, I got a call from my sister that my dad had died suddenly. He hadn’t even been sick. The autopsy showed no stroke, no heart disease, no cancer. There was nothing wrong with him except that his heart stopped.

We had no idea that his death was coming. And yet, God knew. He knew every single day of my father’s life.

I knew my father as a wonderful, Christian man, a man who enjoyed life, who listened, and who asked probing questions that helped me work through the issues that concerned me. And he was so much more that I don’t have room to write.

At the memorial service, the church was full. People came from their little town, from the city an hour away, and from the bigger city three hours away. One woman even flew in from Australia to honor and remember my dad. For them, my dad had a servant’s heart, helping the church janitor with the cleaning, helping an alcoholic to stay sober, and helping the woman from Australia to heal from a broken childhood and learn what a godly marriage looks like. He touched so many people in his quiet way and radiated the love of Jesus in all he did.

My dad acted justly, he loved mercy, and above all, he walked humbly with his God. I pray that, when my life here on earth has ended, this is what people might say about me. And I pray this for each one of you as well.

Brenda