A Glimpse Of My Two Fathers

People have wondered why I quit blogging for the past several months. After experiencing the loss of four people in eight months, I decided to take a step back for a bit and just take a breath. Those deaths included a very dear friend and, quite unexpectedly, my father.

It has been a time of deep reflection. I have thought a great deal about my dad in particular and how he influenced my life and those of my family. Throughout the panorama of memories, a very special one resurfaced that I’ll share here.

Our girls were little when, during bedtime prayers one evening, our 5 year old prayed for something that made her dad and me glance up at each other with a grin. Between prayers for assorted friends, cousins, and so on, she suddenly reminded God how much she loved deer meat. We happened to be out, so would He please get some for her?

After the final Amen, her father explained that we, unfortunately, couldn’t just pick some up at the grocery store - and deer season was now behind us. We would just have to wait for the next hunting season and hope for the best.

A couple of days later, Dad, an avid hunter, showed up unexpectedly. He got out of his truck looking both sheepish and somewhat perplexed. He immediately began to explain that he’d gotten the idea to dig around in his big freezer and just happened to discover two last packages of deer steaks.

He apologized, saying that he knew I didn’t particularly like it, but just felt that he should make the (35-minute) drive to share it with us. My husband and I just stared, mouths open. When we told him about Jessica’s prayer, he gave a surprised smile and blurted, “Well, if God can use me, He can use anybody!”

One very human earthly father and one very tender and kind heavenly Father. An unexpected finite chapter has closed on the one; Forever - with its unending chapters - is in the hands of the Other.

It is my prayer that my father was welcomed with open arms by the God Who once chose him to answer the innocent prayer of his little granddaughter--with a heaven-sent gift straight from his freezer.