My Father

Today is Father's Day and I thought I would take the opportunity to honor my father who died a year and a half ago. My Dad was in the Canadian Airforce for five years until the end of World War II, as an airframe mechanic. When he left the airforce, he married my mother and obtained work as a sheet-metal specialist until he retired.

My father later became a Christian after witnessing my healing from God. 

This was one of the verses my father clung to. Paul, an Apostle of God, was speaking and referring to himself in this verse. However, my father applied this truth to his own life.

"But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example

 of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that 

they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life."

1Timothy 1:16

No matter what we have done in the past, God can forgive and we can start again with a clean slate.

"I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will

never think of them again."

Isaiah 43:25

When God forgives, he no longer remembers our past sins. People do not have this ability. We can forgive or be forgiven, but we will always remember. It is comforting to know God doesn't.

After my dad became a Christian, he began working in Church as a boys' club leader. He was in charge of the crafts. I remember so vividly the hours my dad would spend preparing for these crafts. One was a model of a church that lit up. It took the boys weeks to build, but what a craft! My dad spent several weekends cutting up all the little blocks of wood to build these churches. The churches even had stain glass windows, a steeple and a cross.

Then for Easter one year, he had the children make crosses to hang on the wall that were made from hundreds of burnt matches. I recall my dad burning all those matches for these children's crafts. He had to do it just right, so as not to burn the matches too much. I was in wonderment watching my dad do something we as children weren't suppose to do and that is play with matches.

However, the thing I remember the most, is the joy my dad had doing these things for God and the children! He passed that love on to me and I have passed that love onto my sons. Working with children is so rewarding. Their smiles, their excitement and their eagerness to hear about their Heavenly Father make it all worth while. We may not realize it at the time, but children notice the time a person spends preparing for them beforehand. They never forget it. Christians leaders in children's ministry are sometimes the only examples a child will ever have of the love of God in their lives. May the Church always value this ministry and realize its importance.