If you didn't know my dad and you spent some time with him, you would have thought that he was a bit harsh, sometimes rude, but always joyful. I know that sounds like an odd combination but my dad was a simple man. So simple, in fact, that he just didn't know better than to tell you what was on his mind. He didn't mean anything by it, he just thought that the unadulterated truth was best. Once you knew this is how dad was, it was enlightening to his behaviors.
You see, mostly what was on dad's mind was Jesus and he was going to tell you about it. Dad loved Jesus with all of his heart. He was so thankful that God had healed him from cancer (dad was cancer-free when he died, he died from a brain bleed). Anyone dad met, he told them about his miracle. If he knew you didn't go to church he would tell you that you need to go to church. If he thought you may not be a Christian, he would ask you if you were going to heaven or not.
Dad is the only person that I've known to not have an agenda in his relationships. What I mean is that he didn't love people expecting a benefit. He had no ill will or malice in his heart so he just assumed no one else did either. Dad taught me how to give people the benefit of the doubt.
You had to be close to dad to understand this but dad just loved. He loved every person that walked through his door because he knew they had came to see him. He often cried when I got there and cried when I left. Not because he was sad but because he was so happy to see me. We enjoyed each other's company and we talked a lot but often we just sat. So often, we (not just me but my brother Jody and our wives) would just sit. Dad would sometimes doze off for a few minutes and when he woke up he would always say "I wasn't asleep, I was just resting my eyes". We loved to watch football together. We are both huge UT and Cowboy fans. No matter how good or how bad our teams were, we loved watching them together....together. If UT got down by as much as a touchdown, you could be guaranteed that dad would say "It's over, UT is beat". Kim and I always got a good laugh out of that.
I miss my dad. A couple of people have asked me if I would bring him back from heaven if I could. To their surprise I said YES!!! Are you kidding? I would absolutely bring him back if I could. Oh yeah, he would be mad at me because I took him away from Jesus but the way I look at it, he would get to go back. I want him here with me. I want one more fishing trip with him. I want to hear him say "We're gonna catch us a whampus" one more time. I'd like one more heaping bowl of ice cream with him. Just one more time, I'd like to look at him sitting in his Lazy-Boy with his dog on his lap and him say to me in the most sincere voice "love you son".
I love you dad, see you soon.
John
