The Man Who Taught Me Jesus

"Daddy" is a precious word and filled with SO many memories. "Daddy" is not a word that everyone has the privilege of saying. "Daddy" is a word that I LOVE calling my dad. "Daddy" is what Jesus is to me....my precious Abba Father, because He has adopted me into His family. So really, I feel liked the most blessed girl in the whole wide world because I have two Daddies!! One daddy showed me I was an orphan and my need for adoption, and the other Daddy gave me an eternal home, and made me His very own child.

Daddy, words can not express how the Lord has used you in my life.....you have taught me Jesus...by being like Him and showing me my need for Him. For that...I am eternally grateful. I love you SO very much. Seeing you grow in your love for the Savior and your desire to serve Him by loving the saints has been such a special gift for me. There are so many Sundays I wish I could sit under your teaching (my favorite teaching!...not to say I do not love my own pastor's teaching!), because your words capture my heart and show me more of who Jesus is. My understanding of the scriptures and the desire to know more has come in great part from you. You have always been true to the WORD, and even been persecuted for it...I feel HONORED to be called your daughter.

It's easy to let one's mind wander....but the Lord doesn't give us grace for mind-wandering....He gives us grace for today and promises it will be sufficient for EVERYTHING he gives us. So why do I feel the pain of losing my Daddy would be unbearable? Because I havn't lost him, and therefor have no need of that grace yet.

Praise be to the Lord Almighty for his beautiful sovereign control over EVERYTHING! I praise Him for causing my Father's appendix to fail...for causing him to have a mild heart attack during the removal of his appendix...for causing the doctor's to notice this and have him taken to Portland for further testing...for finding blockage in all major arteries...I praise Him because the doctor's now have a very good chance of giving my dad many more years of life and service to Him. You can read more of what happened and my Dad's heart on my sisters blog.

Tears come to my eyes knowing that my dad will be going through an extremely serious surgery tomorrow, but joy is in my heart, because we have a Savior who is SO good!! If it were not for his appendicitis, my dad would have probably had a severe heart attack in the near future...so yes, I am very thankful for that. But even more than that, I am so thankful for the beauty of glory...eternity. The fact that I am going to live FOREVER is truly incomprehensible. My mind can not grasp what that means, but I know that I will be worshiping my precious heavenly Father alongside my precious earthly Daddy....along with the rest of the precious family of God. I am SO thankful to be a child of the King!

Dad....how beautiful it is to think about how many lives you have touched...hundreds (if not thousands...seriously) of people are praying for you and will be praying for you tomorrow. And yet I know this doesn't bring pride in you heart, but rather glory to God. You see yourself as an instrument of the Lord, and you have most certainly been just that. God has used YOU to convict and grow SO many people, not to mention bring people to their knees in repentance. Thank you for your years of service to your heavenly Father.

It is because of you, Dad, that I have so much peace right now...because you are the man who taught me Jesus.

I love you Daddy, Shepherd, and Friend!!
Please be praying with us for his open heart surgery, which will start between 12:00 and 1:00pm tomorrow, and be anywhere from 4-6 hours long. Thank you!!