A Father’s Legacy of Faith, Perseverance, and Hope

It’s Father’s Day and, as a writer, I knew there would have to be an obligatory dad blog. However, every time I started to write something, I deleted it. I was never satisfied with how I started it and could never get past the first two sentences. As I sat this morning of Father’s Day, thinking of what to write, my mind recalled a sermon my dad preached that I remembered being so incredibly impactful.

I couldn’t remember exactly what book of the Bible he preached from. All I could remember was it was in the New Testament, and it was one of the “P” books. I grabbed my dad’s Bible and started flipping the pages. There, in Philippians 1, I found the notation, “Mt. Pleasant Church Homecoming, August 6, 1995, 1:12-16.” Though I don’t remember this sermon being preached at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, I do know that this set of verses are the verses I remembered from his powerful sermon.

Perseverance

A little history.

If I had to pick one word that defined my dad, and indeed my family, it is PERSEVERANCE. The next would be FAITH. My family faced a lot of hardships when I was growing up. My dad was injured on the job when I was 4 years old. He was a bi-vocational preacher at the time working during the day at the Rheem factory and the evenings and weekends he was the preacher of a small country church.

Health Problem 1

Between 1981, when he first injured his back, and 1987 when he was placed on permanent disability because of that back injury, he endured 9 back operations. He also had a neck surgery. During that time, he was able to work some, but had a lot of limitations. My mom shouldered a lot of the extra burdens financially and had to take steps to ensure the family could survive. My parents didn’t ask for money during that time, nor did we even apply for free lunch. My parents were determined to make it on their own. We moved four times between 1981 and 1987, and I went to 3 different schools, attending one school twice.  My dad stepped away from preaching.   

Health Problem 2

1987 was the year my dad was rushed into emergency surgery for quadruple by-pass surgery. Thus began a years-long battle with his heart. Between 1987 and 2001, he had 4 open heart surgeries. They couldn’t operate on him anymore after that, so we were in “waiting” mode for that “big” one. He had that massive heart attack July 3, 2006, living less than a month after, enduring strokes, all under the watchful eye of hospice.

Daily Struggles

My family lived on pins and needles my entire life. We never knew when we’d get a phone call that my dad had been rushed to the hospital. I got a lot of those phone calls. Those types of calls were so frequent, that if my mom called me and got voicemail, she’d start her message saying, “there is no emergency.” 

My dad was told he’d end up in a wheelchair. He refused. Aside from using a mobility scooter only occasionally, he absolutely refused to use a wheelchair. He had been near death so many times, including one time that his arteries opened overnight. Literally. One day the scans showed massive blockages, next morning scans before surgery, completely open. You will never convince me prayers don’t work. The doctor was left speechless on that one. 

Never Give Up

This is a Father’s Day post, so I won’t share much about how my mom was the rock of our family. How her fierce love of my dad and us kids kept her going day after day, working harder than 10 men combined doing whatever work she could find. She worked in a sewing factor, school office, school bus driver, school cafeteria, machinist shop, and dispatch for trucking company. She is the reason I am who I am today. She is one of a kind. Though times were extraordinarily difficult, she never gave up.

And neither did my dad. He kept fighting to live longer. He never gave up on his faith, either. When I once asked my mom and dad how they still had faith after all the years of struggle and all my dad’s health issues, they replied they believed my dad would be healed. He may not get healed the way we want to see him healed, but he will be healed one day.

A Testimony

Which brings me to his sermon from Philippians. Even though he had stopped preaching as a vocation, he did preach occasionally here and there. His life was a testimony. People that knew him, friends, fellow church people, all knew the struggles he faced. Many didn’t know how bad it really was, but that didn’t matter. They knew there was a struggle. They saw him using a cane, oxygen, wincing in paid, slow walking, difficulty standing up, and saw his name repeatedly on the prayer list because he was yet again in the hospital. People knew his body was broken.

Paul writes in Philippians 1:12, “Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear … that I am in chains for Christ.” Paul goes one to write in verses 19-20, “for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body….” Daddy preached that day, proclaiming this verse described his life, that he could have written it himself. This was his life verse. Daddy knew his life was a testimony. It didn’t mean everything was great or that he accepted it with a smile, but he knew his pain and troubles, and his perseverance through it all, was a testament to God’s goodness and faithfulness. He knew his perseverance provided hope to many.

My Father’s Legacy

That perseverance has been needed by each of his three children. We have all three had struggles of our own. I would have been much happier if his legacy had been leaving us each a million dollars, but that wasn’t the case. Through my own hell, his legacy of perseverance, faith, and hope propelled me forward. Having had a front row seat to his life, I knew this story of struggles and perseverance.

Hope Doesn’t Disappoint

On this 16th Father’s Day without my dad, I don’t have any more words to describe him, you know all the things we say about our dads on this day. I just couldn’t find those words to say.  This testimony, though, of his life and legacy is the best tribute I can do for now. I think he’d be happy that his struggles continue to impact someone’s life and to know his health struggles were not in vain. Though there were a lot of things he couldn’t physically do to teach me about life, his life taught me much more valuable lessons. His life, and now my own, is a witness to Pauls’ words in Romans 5:3-5, “…we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us. . .”   

Legacy

Dads, what legacy are you leaving your children? Children, hug your dads a little tighter today.

Share with me lessons you learned from your dad.