A Father from Generation to Generation

 

My grandfather was saved as an adult. After he died, a written account of his salvation story circulated among our family members. We did not question his salvation, we just did not know how and when that happened.

I no longer have that account available to me, but I  remember that he was a farmer, on a tractor, out in a field when he finally surrendered to the Spirit and put his faith in Christ. He said that he had a stuttering problem throughout his early life, but from that point, the stuttering went away. It is not beyond our Lord to do something like that to remind us that once saved, we are new creatures in Christ.

I think my father had a more personal relationship with his father as an adult than he did as a child. Dad was the youngest of twelve children and it was his older sisters that did most of the child care when he was young. When dad was older and had a family of his own, his parents would often make the trek to Arizona to spend significant time in our mild winter climate.

It was on one of these winter visits that my grandfather made his entrance into heaven. It was January of 1973. I was ten years old. We had a prayer meeting at church earlier in the week. People were giving testimonies. As I sat in the front row our pastor looked beyond me and said, with a bit of surprise. “Russell?”

I thought, “Who is Russell? We don’t have any Russells in our church.”

As I looked back, I saw my grandfather had risen to his feet to give a testimony. I was shocked. He was a quiet man of very few words. This was unexpected.

I cannot remember word for word what he said, but I do remember distinctly the content of what he said. It went something like this.

“My wife and I have raised twelve children. As far as we know, all of them have come to know the Lord as Savior. Some are serving him in full-time ministry. As far as I am concerned, this has made my life a success.”

With that, he sat down.

On the following Sunday, I went along with my father and grandfather to tour a hydroelectric dam a little over an hour from our home. Another deacon from our church and his two sons went with us. After walking up and down the stairs on the tour, we sat down in a small lobby in the office area. My grandfather sat in the chair immediately to my right. He made a sort of coughing, sneezing sound, slumped down into his chair, and entered into heaven. An emergency helicopter arrived, but it was to no avail. He was gone almost immediately.

My dad and I have a long, somewhat silent ride home. We talked, but the words were few. He was processing the loss of his father (I know that now) and I was watching my dad, to see how I should respond. There were no cell phones in those days. The news did not arrive home before us. Dad told his mom, and as a ten-year-old, I told mine.

I am reminded of this story when I consider the passage I preached this Father’s Day.

As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children. . . . (Psalm 103:13-17)

The word pity means to show compassion and tenderness. It is not the condescending idea that we often associate with pity. It is the tenderness of a new father gently supporting the head of a newborn.

He knows who we are and He knows our limitations. Of course, our greatest limitation is that we will die someday. From that day, my father had to face the rest of his life without his father, and now I am facing my life without mine. So, will my children do someday should our Lord tarry.

However, the same God that saved my grandfather, led my father, and has sustained me, will also guide my children and grandchildren from generation to generation going forward, if they will follow Him. He is the Father that we can never be. We are dust, He is eternal.

He is always present and always will be. Rest in the reality of the care of your Heavenly Father on this Father’s Day.