"What Would My Dad Do?"

It has been a difficult time for our Pastor E. Two dear, long-time members of our church family passed away this week and several others are very, very sick. They are scattered, as patients, in hospitals from one end of the city to our west to the other end of the city to our east. Additionally, we had scheduled a "fun" event to chase away the winter doldrums this past Saturday - a slideshow of our Pastor's father's pictures taken during "The Bird Man's" many travels to and around Norway. Even if E. didn't hold a full time job away from the church, this might be a lot to "get the mind around."

(Side note about The Bird Man - he led the movement to bring back the dwindling Blue Bird population in our state, by building and installing hundreds upon hundreds of Blue Bird boxes).

Perhaps it was the process of going through his father's slides, or the fact that his father was a founding member of the church along with the missionary who passed away that made him ask this question, "what would my dad do?"

(Our building was once and abandoned, decaying church structure, filled with wild animals, cast away pews and furniture, and bee hives. It was "left for dead" until a small group of dedicated people prayed over it, bought it, and then God sent money, volunteers, and equipment to bring it back to life.)

The lesson in Sunday School was taken from his father's Bible. We looked at Philippians 4:6-7, the only two verses underlined by "The Bird Man of the Swamp" in his personal Bible. In the margin he'd written, "my two favorite verses."

From The New American Standard Bible (NASB)

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all [a]comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

In other words..."let God know what worries you and where you'd like to go and then, let God do the driving."

(I enjoy Laura Storey's song that speaks to this same idea, "I Can Just Be Me.")

It also occurred to me that I had never, at least that I could remember, asked myself "what would my dad do?" (I'd asked myself plenty of times, however,"what would my grandpa do?")

Until last night. When faced with a rock-solid, frozen, gallon and 1/2 bucket of Schwann's ice cream. I found myself laughing when I remembered that clearly, my Dad would have "thawed" it in the microwave.