Happy Father's Day

My dad has not had an easy life. His dream was to take over his dad's farm, the farm that his grandparents had homesteaded. In early childhood, he lost his mom to cancer and his youngest sister to a farm accident. The tragedy was too much, and his dad sold the farm and moved to the city.

City living could not take farming out of Dad's heart. As a teenager, he took advantage of every opportunity to work on a farm, knowing that he would have to start out on his own eventually. After earning a college degree and serving in the Air Force, he did just that. He and my mom started a small irrigated farm and grew it through their own blood, sweat, and tears. It was tough and stressful work, but Dad thrived on it. By the time I was a teenager, the farm had grown and become successful. But alas, Dad didn't have a son to farm with, and his daughters wanted more than a rural Montana life could offer. So, he sacrificed his dream. He sold the farm to give us more opportunities.

The verse that comes to mind when I think of my dad is John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." By sacrificing his dream for his daughters, my dad modeled the selfless love of Christ. We can easily trust God as a good Father, because Dad has been a good father. I am grateful that God blessed me with a wonderful father. In a day when good fathers are rare, the undeserved blessing does not escape me. I am grateful for my dad's sacrifices and for his perseverance in the faith. I am blessed by his confidence that God is good even in suffering and thwarted plans.

On top of this, I have always been close to my dad. If I remember correctly, I was Dad's self-proclaimed sidekick on the farm. I was perfectly content to tag along during chores or ride along in the tractor. My dad has always been a pretty big deal to me. We live far apart now, and that really stinks. However, my parents have done such a great job, that our family manages to stay close in spite of the distance.

Happy Father's Day, Dad! Thank you for sacrificing and for modeling Christ. I miss you.

[By the way, if you know my parents, please help us pressure them to move down here. We don't plan to move back to Minnesota, so that means they should come live by us instead. It's only logical, right?]