Category: My Dad

A Place Called Home

Published on by katiesencouragementforyou13 Comments

Sometimes life can seem random, like there is no rhyme or reason to what happens or when things happen.  I’d like to share memories that still help me when I think of them, to know that I am not alone, that I am loved, and that there is more to life, than just what we see.

What I am about to share next will seem like the opposite of what I just shared—but read on, and you will see what I mean.

My dad had a stroke 5 years before he died; it left my dad without the power of speech.   I remember my son Sean told me that he missed hearing his Papa’s voice, and he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to remember what his Papa’s voice sounded like. (Sean didn’t have to be afraid of that—4 years after my dad died, Sean passed.  Sean is hearing his Papa’s voice in heaven.)

Not quite 3 years before my dad died, my youngest child was born.  She was my parents’ youngest grandchild.   When our sweetness was just over 2 years old, we went to visit my parents.  My sweet girl was a busy, busy, busy, 2-year-old, never sitting down, always moving.  On this visit, she climbed up into her Papa’s lap, and stayed there hugging him, for the next 45 minutes.   At the time, I was stupefied as to what was happening.   The next day, my dad had another massive stroke, and spent the next 6 months in the hospital until he died.

I still cry when I remember our precious little girl, crawling up into my dad’s lap and hugging him.  It was the last hug between them.  How did this tiny little girl know this would be the last time, she would be with her Papa?  How did she know to embrace him and the moment?

  I have many questions like that:  How do birds know to fly south for the winter?  How do bears know to hibernate in the winter.  Yes—I know the scientific explanation, but someone had to design the birds to have those homing instincts, and someone had to design bears’ bodies to go into hibernation.

Scripture tells us that God takes care of the birds of the air, and we are worth much more to God.  God loves us; He cares for us.  He has prepared a place for us. 

Every time, I go to a funeral, and see the body, I am reminded once again, that our bodies house our spirits.  When the spirit is gone, the person is gone, even though the body remains.

Sometimes—life seems random, like a big cosmic accident, and then sometimes—something happens—and it reminds us that we are not alone, that we are loved, and that there is a place we are all heading towards—a place I call home.   May we be encouraged!!

A Place Called Home

Published on by katiesencouragementforyou6 Comments

Sometimes life can seem random, like there is no rhyme or reason to what happens or when things happen.  I’d like to share memories that still help me when I think of them, to know that I am not alone, that I am loved, and that there is more to life, than just what we see.

What I am about to share next will seem like the opposite of what I just shared—but read on, and you will see what I mean.

My dad had a stroke 5 years before he died; it left my dad without the power of speech.   I remember my son Sean told me that he missed hearing his Papa’s voice, and he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to remember what his Papa’s voice sounded like. (Sean didn’t have to be afraid of that—4 years after my dad died, Sean passed.  Sean is hearing his Papa’s voice in heaven.)

Not quite 3 years before my dad died, my youngest child was born.  She was my parents’ youngest grandchild.   When our sweetness was just over 2 years old, we went to visit my parents.  My sweet girl was a busy, busy, busy, 2-year-old, never sitting down, always moving.  On this visit, she climbed up into her Papa’s lap, and stayed there hugging him, for the next 45 minutes.   At the time, I was stupefied as to what was happening.   The next day, my dad had another massive stroke, and spent the next 6 months in the hospital until he died.

I still cry when I remember our precious little girl, crawling up into my dad’s lap and hugging him.  It was the last hug between them.  How did this tiny little girl know this would be the last time, she would be with her Papa?  How did she know to embrace him and the moment?

  I have many questions like that:  How do birds know to fly south for the winter?  How do bears know to hibernate in the winter.  Yes—I know the scientific explanation, but someone had to design the birds to have those homing instincts, and someone had to design bears’ bodies to go into hibernation.

Scripture tells us that God takes care of the birds of the air, and we are worth much more to God.  God loves us; He cares for us.  He has prepared a place for us. 

Every time, I go to a funeral, and see the body, I am reminded once again, that our bodies house our spirits.  When the spirit is gone, the person is gone, even though the body remains.

Sometimes—life seems random, like a big cosmic accident, and then sometimes—something happens—and it reminds us that we are not alone, that we are loved, and that there is a place we are all heading towards—a place I call home.   May we be encouraged!!

The sweetness of love.

Published on by katiesencouragementforyou3 Comments

I am tenderhearted and have great compassion for others.  I am a feeler.  My husband is a thinker, a problem-solver.  We are two sides of a coin.

In our family, we have a chore chart, chores each person is responsible for–for that day.  After Sean died, it was painful to look at the chore chart, so I put it away.  Eventually, we needed to function as a family again, so we used a system again.  I found that implementing the system was proving troublesome. Everything had changed, our dynamics had changed.  The kids had so many excuses why they didn’t want to do their chores, which I think was part of the grief and suffering they were going through, and since I’m so softhearted……

 I asked my husband to implement the chore chart.  Now I hear,” don’t worry about doing the pots and pans—I’ll take care of those” or “if you unload the dishwasher, I’ll load it..”

The end of the day usually finds my husband and myself finishing up chores, working side by side in the kitchen together.  It is a very sweet time for us.

Why?  I think it’s because we see in very real ways our children suffering and grieving the loss of their brother, and so in also very real ways, our hearts go out to them, and we come along beside them and help them.  Both of us—the feeler and the thinker—we love our kids—we would do anything to help them—we would do anything to show them how much we love them and that they are not alone.

It is in times of being “a parent” that I most clearly see and feel and know—God’s love.   If my husband and I, both so different, can both come along beside our children to help them during their times of suffering, so does God come along side us to help us.

God with all of God’s attributes—loves His children and comes alongside of us and helps us.  He helps us.  In so many ways we have seen “His goodness in the Land of the living.”

He has done the things that only He could do—to reach out to us—and love us—and help us. If you’d like to read some examples of how He has done this—  Read—Julia’s gift; The Gift of Grace; The Gift of Work; The Gift of Hindsight.

Our Father doesn’t do these things just for us—He does them for all His children.  He loves all His children.  Ask Him to give you the eyes to see where He is coming alongside of you.   He is the best parent there is.  He is the best parent there is.  We have the best Dad ever!!

So Be Encouraged!!

My Dad

Published on by katiesencouragementforyou2 Comments

My Dad has been in heaven for 10 years – 11 this coming October.  On Father’s Day, I was thinking about my Dad’s life and how his story might speak into the current crisis we are experiencing in this country.

My Dad was a State Trooper.  He was a policeman.  I believe his early life shaped his desire to become a policeman. 

My Dad’s parents divorced when my Dad was 10.  His parents remarried other people, and his stepfather was an abusive alcoholic.  My Dad saw his mother beaten up, and he and his three brothers tried to intervene and stop it from happening, only to be beaten up themselves.  When they got strong enough, big enough and old enough, they were able to protect their mom and themselves.

My Dad grew up with a great desire to protect and serve others.  He found that desire satisfied in being a policeman.

Yet, in that desire—he had compassion for the people he arrested.  He would tell me that many of them would start telling him their stories as they sat in the back of his cruiser—stories of their own abuse from others and from their own hands—of all the ways their lives had led them to this point in time.  My Dad would listen, and he would encourage them, telling them that they could make different choices– they could get help–they did not have to be the people they currently were– God would help them.

My Dad had a best friend and partner who would eventually leave the State Police and become a Pastor and an Evangelical Speaker, as the calling to speak hope and forgiveness and grace into others’ lives became a fulltime calling.

So– what is my point—policemen and policewomen are somebody’s dad or mom, somebody’s husband or wife, somebody’s brother or sister, somebody’s somebody.   Police officers, like all people, are created in the image of God, and they are loved by God.

Scripture tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but it is a spiritual battle.

In order to properly fight this spiritual battle, we need to use spiritual means.  We don’t fight hatred and evil, by using hatred and evil.  We rely on God and His wisdom and His resources.

God is all about love, forgiveness, saving and redeeming.  If we listen to His words, we become His ambassadors here on this earth, spreading His love and His forgiveness.

God wants us to be aware of what the source of the evil is, and to not give into the hatred.  Hatred destroys.      There is a movement now, to correct some of the injustices and evil that is being seen in how some police handle race relations, and handle enforcing the law.

Martin Luther King headed a movement based on non-violence.  That movement brought about great change in this country.  This movement was based on believing God’s Word—that we must love even our enemies.

 I would like to close with a video by an interracial couple, I know personally.  Dirk and Lorna Johnston were on staff with Cru at Michigan State University when I was a college student.  I went to their wedding.  They talk about experiencing racism and how God lead them to deal with it—resulting in the transforming power of God’s love.

I hope—as always—that it encourages you!!