The day is over. The sun has set. Beautiful dusk has moved in. And this day is nearly gone just like every year on this date… June 28. A day that is challenging on so many levels. A day to remember. The day, my father was called home.
As the sun sets, I look out my living room window to where the cemetery is, and recall all those that gathered when we buried him. What a beautiful and special time that was!
It’s peaceful. The birds are singing. The quietness is beyond still, almost palpable, and the memories rush in.
Seventeen long years since my Father was called from his home here on earth, to his home in heaven.
I miss him as much today, as the day he breathed his last. I have not forgotten him, I do not love him less, the sadness has not gone away. But, I just keep it tucked in my heart and locked to hold all the love and the memories until this day…this is the day that key is unlocked.
I share every year on this day…not because I must, but because I will. I will share the memories of this man who I was blessed to have as my Papa.
Many did not know him, many who respond do so out of compassion, care, friendship and respect.
But I ask that you take my heart for this day of honoring and remembering him, and use it as a day to bless and serve others as he did.
A life of service, obedience and giving up time with his family to teach others about the calling to pick up their cross and follow Him.
A life of friendships dedicated to live to the fullest, believing in encouraging and challenging those to walk and live according to God’s purpose.
A life changed when he held his first daughter, walked her down the aisle to give her to another man to now watch over her and care for her. A life filled with joy when he met his granddaughter. A life shattered with grief when I battled cancer.
A life taken sooner than any of us believed would happen, destroyed by illness. A life of believing that to die for Him was to gain eternal glory.
I need to share more and be better about updating the website. Life gets busy and this becomes a very last priority in the day today work and ministry and caring for family members along with all the tasks that my husband has on the property to maintain it.
So I won’t go into many details now. I want to use this space to remember my father.
I’ll end with this quote from my Dad…
“If heaven is only a category and not a passionate conviction, then we have no message for the world.”
Art Katz
