I bring my dad up in conversation all the time. Because he was a special, memorable man of God. But also because he was quotable. I’m sure I’ve shared here that Dad used to joke that we live in Colorado, a state that doesn’t have a professional baseball team. The irony of the joke was the Colorado Rockies, for as hapless as they have been for a long time, they actually made it to the World Series in 2007 (even though they did lose the series). The Denver Nuggets, meanwhile, never made it to the Finals – until this year where they won their first world championship!
In the excitement of the Denver Nuggets post-season
success, I quoted Dad’s Rockies line to a coworker of mine. This person had recently lost a father
too. This subsequently opened up a dialogue about how
both of our departed father’s had a love for sports, and each would have been
thrilled at the Nuggets recent post-season success.
Soon after this conversation, a wave of grief washed over
me. And to be honest with you, as I’ve
composed this paragraph, a fresh wave of emotional grief hit me just now. Dad and I watched the Denver Broncos win
Super Bowl 32 securing their first world championship. It was a different celebration for me when
the Broncos won Super Bowl 50; I could feel how empty the room was without
him. I felt very similar ten days ago;
when I saw the Nuggets were going to be NBA champions for the first time. It was bittersweet to celebrate without my
dad in the room with me.
My point is it’s been eight years since my dad passed on. And yes, the intensity of the wound of
fatherlessness subsides with time, but I would be lying to you if I claimed
that it ever went away. It’s not just
about sports, either. I was recently
praying to God about something, and I concluded that petition with Jesus’ words
in Matthew 6 “Thy will be done.” It
occurred to me that I was praying the way my dad had prayed. Both in his vocational prayer time, as well
as his personal prayer time, he often used the same just-cited words of Jesus
from Matthew 6. I proceeded to say
something said something like, “Like my father before me often prayed, I too
pray ‘Thy will be done.’”
In conclusion, as I get older, the more I contemplate the
legacy I will leave behind one day. I
consider the challenge of finishing well, as Dad did. Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Since we are surrounded
by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set
before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” My dad would have been the first to declare
that it’s not about him; it’s about God.
That’s the way he lived, and I want to follow in that example.
God bless,
Kevin
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