Home with the Lord but always with me

March came and Dad went.  On March 3rd my Dad, Cliff, slipped away in his sleep and opened his eyes in heaven.  He was a remarkable yet ordinary man.  He was ordinary in that his work resume looks quite ordinary:  farmer turned farmer/factory worker turned factory worker.  There was nothing particularly flashy about the way he lived his life, either.  He simply worked hard, raised his children, loved his wife, served his community and his church, had the respect of his friends and neighbors, and never had a scrape with the law (even so much as a traffic ticket, to my knowledge).  He was the picture of ordinary.

But even in that “ordinariness” he was remarkable.  His father passed away from cancer when Dad was just 14 years old.  That meant that his mom became a single-mom with a farm to run, and Dad, his brother and his sister were going to be heavily involved in making that happen.  Can you imagine yourself helping to run a farm at 14?  I can’t either.   But Dad did it and did it well. And he played in the high school band.  And he played high school football.  And he graduated.  World War II came and his brother went and served his country.  Dad farmed on as the only son left at home to run the farm.  His brother came home at war’s end and moved on to other things.  His sister got married.  Dad farmed on.

And he was remarkable at it.  Before I was of school age, he was named Outstanding Young Farmer.  Before the sunset on his farming career he would be inducted into the Michigan Farmer’s Hall of Fame and the family farm would be designated a Centennial Farm.  Along the way he served on the Farm Bureau and on the local school board, and just about anything else he was asked to do.  His father didn’t live to see any of that, but he would have been very proud.  I am. 

And then there are the over-and-above things he did in my life.  When I first got the idea that maybe I’d like to be a pastor, he said not a word about wanting me to take over the farm after him.  Instead he encouraged me and sacrificed so that I could go to parochial high school, college, and Seminary.  When, as a high school kid, I got my first part-time job off the farm, he bought a little motorbike for me to use so I could get into town without tying up the family car.  A life-time of motorcycling grew from that little 50cc scooter.  In college, he fronted me the money to buy a set of drums for a band a few of us guys started to earn some extra money at school.  That set is long gone, but I’ve been drumming ever since. 

Mom, the love of his life, passed away just 5 weeks before he did.  Those last five weeks of his life were the most challenging he’d ever faced. His health, very precarious for the last four years, took that loss hard.  As I shared with someone the other day, Jesus and Mom were the two people in his life he loved most, so it just made sense that he’d rather be in heaven than here.

Yes, Dad was a remarkable man.  He still is.  All that’s changed is that he is now that remarkable man in heaven.  And if you could ask him how he accomplished all that he did in life and persevered through all the challenges he faced, he would point you to the One sitting on the throne and say, “He did that.”  I know that’s what he’d say because he made no bones about that the fact that he had been truly blessed to know his Savior.  In fact, that is the most important thing about him.  When all is said and done, that is the most important thing he imparted to me.  His whole life and example said, “Know Jesus and serve him, because he is worthy of it.”

Dad left me with quite a legacy.  I don’t know that he ever said these things out loud, but his example taught them very clearly:  “Don’t embarrass yourself or your family.”  “If you’ve got a job to do, do it right and do it until it’s done.”  “If you shake hands on something, you’d better mean it.”  “You can till and plant and fertilize and pray, but it’s God whose going to make those crops grow, so do your work and trust him to bless it.”  Those things have served me very well in my 36 years of pastoral ministry.  But the most important thing he and Mom ever gave me is the introduction to Jesus they arranged at my baptismal font, a relationship they nurtured by making sure I was in His house and learning about him. 

When we laid him to rest this week, there was no sadness in my heart.  Lots of gratitude, but no sadness.  So whoever you are who’s reading this, take away the most important thing Cliff had to share:  “Know Jesus and serve him, because he is worthy of it.”  There’s no better time than lent to understand why.  There at the cross Jesus reconciled us to our Father for time and eternity.  There he washed away all that would have kept us out of heaven.  And there he gave all the reason we’ll ever need to worship him and serve him.  And there he gave us the message that is the most powerful and blessing-packed seed you can plant.  Cliff knew that.  Be like Cliff.