Happy Birthday Daddy-O!

The Birthday Boy!

Last weekend we celebrated my dad’s 80th birthday. My brother, who is eight years older than I am (there have been questions about that recently and I want to make it clear that he is OLDER than I am), and I invited friends and family to his beautiful home to share the celebration, and what a great time we had! My dad has had a difficult year. He endured eighteen rounds of chemotherapy and lost his hair. Fortunately, his cancer is in remission for now so this was a perfect opportunity to celebrate his life.

Family dynamics is complicated, but to appreciate my dad you have to have a little background. Dad had four brothers and three sisters and he outlived them all. Raised in a strict Catholic family, when he left the Catholic faith, he encountered great discrimination from his siblings. He became the joke of his family and was treated badly at many gatherings. I remember as a child our family being thrown out of his sister’s home because my dad took a stand against his brothers drinking alcohol with so many small children around. Nevertheless, he stood firm in his beliefs, kept his integrity, led our family in devotions every night, read his Bible and prayed every day, and tried to share with his siblings about his personal relationship with Jesus. My dad is not perfect, he battles a bad temper (of which I've been the wrath of more than once) and depression (which I inherited), but looking back on events in his life, it is no wonder he struggles in those areas with all the pressure his family laid on him. All these years have passed and I think his youngest brother, although he remained Catholic, finally came to know Christ before he died which was a great comfort to my dad. He has a nephew who also left the Catholic faith and became a Baptist minister. He can very much relate. He attended dad’s party and shared with me what an example dad had been to him over the years and how dad experienced persecution from his family that many Christian never encounter. What a testimony to my Dad’s faithfulness!

Daddy is not “famous” in our small community. He is not known for being involved in civic organizations, having a lot of money, playing great golf, teaching an amazing Sunday School class or organizing soup kitchens to feed the hungry. He gives generously to many things, but he does so quietly and without fanfare. He practices Matthew 6:1-4: “Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full. However, when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

My dad will never make the cover of Volunteer of the Year. What you will see, if you stop and look deep enough, is a plain fellow who has remained faithful to the Lord. He realizes his value is in Christ alone and not of works, “lest any man should boast.” The lessons I have learned from him are simple ones. The world could use a few more of these quiet, steady men. By the way, my parents celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary this week also. What a wonderful example!

Thanks for reading, Rosie.