| Matthew 6:9 – “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” |
My wife and I went to see “I Can Only Imagine 2” with our youngest son. It was his day off from the plant nursery and our spring break from Richardson ISD. A son and father are on top of their touring bus one night, under the stars, playing 20 questions. One of the questions they both had to answer was “Your favorite moment with your father.” The father answered “the day my dad passed.” The son sat quiet, slow to answer. The father apologized for not being a better father. Their relationship was in a rocky period. I thought about my best times with my own father. He was a career military man, and gone for one or sometimes two years at a time. So, when he was around, I learned to make the most of the time. Which for me was not leaving his side on Saturday when I was not in school. If he worked on the car, I was right there to hand him tools and be his second pair of eyes. I remember one particular day, I was about 7th grade. He was replacing the alternator on our 1967 Chrysler Newport. He was putting the nut on the bolt upside down. I could see that but did not tell him. I did not want to make him lose face. Finally he realized his mistake. “Did you know I had it on upside down?” I couldn’t lie. “Yes.” “Why didn’t you tell me?” What could I say. I was now in trouble for letting him save face. But for me, it was a day I have long remembered fondly because I was with him. Another time, I was much older, now 22, still in college, and needed to replace the starter on my 1969 Camaro. It was a very tight squeeze, and there was not enough room to get an open end wrench in there. My dad mentioned that we could use a hacksaw and cut the wrench in half. We finally did that, and I was able to get it bolted down. At my dad’s funeral, I told that story, and held up the two halves of the wrench we cut that day. I still have them. A day spent with my father, both of us on our backs, lying under a car. How would my dad answer that? I would have liked to hear him say what his favorite memories were of his own father. And what would my sons say? Something I might need to ask them. Father in heaven, thank You for being a loving father to us, in Jesus’ name, Amen!
- Jeff Beall
