My Dad, a Reflection of Our Father in Heaven

One of the blogs that I read regularly is that of an young woman named Colleen. Recently, she posted a blog entry about her dad. My dad passed away several years ago but as I read this blog entry, I was flooded with memories of my dad bringing him back to me momentarily.

So, I am remembering my dad in this blog entry and introducing him to you.

Several years ago, I gave a book to all the men in my house church. It was a book by Stu Webber called "Tender Warrior". In his book, Webber identifies four aspects of true manhood.

He is a Leader/King.

He is a Protector/Warrior

He is a Magician/Mentor

And he is a Friend/Lover

He is a Leader/King who receives his calling from the Lord, casts that vision for others, and invites others to come join the call.

He is a Protector/Warrior who fights for and provides for those the Lord puts under his care.

He is a Magician/Mentor who motivates and teaches those, which the Lord had brought to listen, by showing them the wonders and delights of what the Lord had shown him.

He is a Friend/Lover who speaks and acts with care and compassion for all those around him.

My dad, he was all four.

My dad was a leader who abandoned his lucrative teaching career in Taiwan to follow his calling to bring his wife and children to America. But most importantly, he was a leader who continues to take his family on his journey of faith.

My dad was a protector and provider for our family. He worked hard to earn a living and worked hard at attending to our needs at home. But there were always times when my dad made the decision to sacrifice the financial security of the family in following his calling and allowing the Lord to be our protector and provider.

My dad was a mentor. He was not just a teacher to his students. He wasn't just interested in dispensing information. My dad nurtured his students' growth as individuals, helping them acquire wisdom. Especially for my brother and me, my dad surrounded us with an environment for learning and character development. He exposed us to world literature while my mom exposed us to music and the arts. All the while, they encouraged us to pursue the sciences. But most important of all, he instilled in us a calling to pursue compassion and faith.

But of the four aspects of manhood that Webber identified, and my dad exemplified, the most indelible in my heart, is that last one. My dad was a man of love.

My dad was a man who loved his God, who loved his wife, his children, his students, his neighbors. During my childhood and into my adult years, my dad demonstrated every day that he was a man of love.

Although my dad was an English professor, words were not what he used most to express his love. My dad loved with action.

I remember, when I was a child, my dad would rush home from work to spend time with me before dinner. He would take me riding on his motorcycle. We would go downtown to see all the lights And we would go to the rail station to watch the trains. How I treasure those rides with my dad!

I remember one year, on my birthday, during a major ice storm, my dad insisted on going out to the store because we didn't have a cake with which to celebrate. He ended up in an automobile accident. But that day, there was a cake.

Even without action, my dad showed how much he loved my brother and me and showed how proud he is of us. No one can miss the way his face beamed whenever he presented his boys to his friends and colleagues.

My dad loved my mom. My dad loved her by being the husband who strives to build the home for his wife. My childhood images, of love in the home, were that of my mom and dad enjoying each other's company as they work around the house together. There is joy in their faces when they painted the living walls together. There is laughter when they prepared the soil for planting or when they harvested from our backyard garden.

My dad loved his neighbors. One of our neighbors was an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Kaiser. I remember my dad cutting the grass in our yard and when he's done, he'd roll the lawn mower over to the Kaiser's to mow their yard. He'd rake the leaves in their yard after he raked our yard. And He'd trim their bushes after he'd trim ours. I remembered asking him why he did that, asking him if Mr. Kaiser had asked him to do their yard. My dad, he'd say, "No, they didn't ask. But they are old and have a hard time doing it themselves." And he left it at that as if the answer was self-explanatory.

My dad loved his students. He tutored them. He encouraged them. And the evidence of his love for them is their love for him. Year after year, my dad was selected by his students as their favorite professor.

Once, one, of his students, needed someone to co-sign his education loan. Evidently, the student's parents were either unable to or unwilling to co-sign the loan. My dad co-signed the loan. I don't know how often he did that for his students. I would not have known about my dad co-signing the student's loan if it wasn't for that particular student having defaulted on the loan.

My dad's income as a college professor was quite meager. My dad's income was definitely not large enough to be able to cover a student's defaulted loan.

So, early on, my dad taught me that love requires sacrifice. What better foundation than that is there for understanding scripture verses like John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God's ultimate demonstration of love through sacrifice.

But coupled with the constant reenforcement of my dad's demonstration of love through sacrifice is his demonstration of his trust in the Lord to provide when we step out in faith.

Often, my dad's spontaneous generosity would put our family's budget at risk. And each time, my dad allows the Lord to prove scripture verses like Matthew 6:33

But Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you.

And indeed, the Lord provided for our family abundantly: through the time when my dad didn't have an income because he was trying to complete his Ph.D. and through times of medical crisis for my dad and my brother. The Lord even provided pretty much a free ride through college for my brother and me.

Most important of all, the Lord brought salvation to my life through my dad. My heart was hard toward the Lord until my dad's massive stroke twenty years ago. When he had the stroke, the doctor said that my dad would not live beyond the week. It was at that point I went on my knees to ask the Lord to spare my dad's life. And if He saves my dad, I would give my life to the Lord. My dad was out of the hospital before the end of week.

My dad had set for me a wonderful example of godly manhood. This legacy, that I inherited from my dad, is of greater worth than a hundred-acre estate or a multimillion dollar trust fund.

It was a priceless gift of being an apprentice to a man who had mastered the art of godly love.

No, I can't honestly say that I have acquired all that character that my dad had modeled for me. There are good days and there are bad days. On bad days, I fall flat on my face. But on the good days... On those days when I came close...

when you see me, you've seen my father.

Although my mother, my brother and I miss my dad very much, we are also very much at peace and are filled with joy for my dad. When he was a young man, my dad received the faith to accepted the Lord's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and because of this faith my dad is now with the Lord. And because of that same faith, he was given the grace to raise a family whose foundation is firmly set in Christ.