{"id":1147,"date":"2016-06-19T22:21:41","date_gmt":"2016-06-19T22:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=1147"},"modified":"2016-06-27T17:43:44","modified_gmt":"2016-06-27T17:43:44","slug":"my-dad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=1147","title":{"rendered":"My Dad"},"content":{"rendered":"

My dad could have been perceived to be a quiet man and an introvert, but he really wasn’t. \u00a0He loved people and he loved to visit. \u00a0I only learned when I became an adult that Dad stuttered.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had to learn that from others because I rarely heard him stutter. He had learned to choose alternate words in conversation if he couldn’t get the first one out. \u00a0\u00a0He talked slowly and deliberately, carefully choosing his words without stuttering. \u00a0 If you didn’t know him as a kid, you would not know how bad it was until he learned to cope with it by picking and choosing his words carefully as an adult.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a parent and a believer, I am still learning to pick and choose words carefully. \u00a0Too often our words are used as darts or clubs to defend ourselves rather than to edify others. \u00a0The wonderful thing about texting and email is that before we push the send button, we can edit out the emotion and the hurtful things we often say before thinking it through.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dad loved people and he loved to visit with people. \u00a0I often found myself standing on a street corner in the city with Dad waiting for mom to finish shopping. \u00a0 We rarely stood there alone because people would stop and visit with him on their way by. \u00a0 I remember asking him, who was that? \u00a0He usually couldn’t tell me a name, but he knew where they lived. \u00a0I met my great Uncle Earl on that street corner.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He would take me along to visit elderly relatives. \u00a0I came to know some of my great Aunts and Uncles through these visits. \u00a0Aunt Esther always had some chocolate cake and coffee ready when we stopped. \u00a0Farrell and Mary (grandma’s brother) ran a small restaurant in the city called Red’s. \u00a0Dad often stopped there for coffee with me along. \u00a0Grandma lived just down the street from us in our small rural village. \u00a0When visitors came on the weekends, I would sit on the living room floor and listen to Dad visit with aunts, uncles and cousins.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As believers, we should love people too. \u00a0After all each individual is someone for whom Christ died. \u00a0While we don’t know who the Lord maybe dealing with about their soul, we have a responsibility to declare the hope within us to those with whom we cross paths. Often people can become an irritant to us in our busy world, rather than an opportunity to tell of the hope within us. \u00a0We should slow down some and listen to the hearts of those around us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I trusted Christ at the age of nineteen, I became zealous for the things of God. \u00a0 I began to regard Dad as too laid back. \u00a0In my opinion, I thought he should be more of a spiritual leader and I often had a critical attitude toward him concerning this. \u00a0Then one day I found out that he was the first one in our immediate family to make a decision for Christ.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dad attended a revival meeting in our small town back in the mid nineteen forties. \u00a0It was there that he made a decision for Christ. Mom didn’t like it, but the next night of the revival meeting Dad stayed home with my two older sisters and mom attended with her best friend and they both made decisions to trust Christ as their own personal Saviour.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dad was our spiritual leader in spite of what I may have thought in my uninformed zeal. \u00a0He responded to the Holy Spirit’s conviction first and as a result had an eternal impact on the rest of us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Are you the spiritual leader in your home? \u00a0Is God tugging at your heart to make a decision to receive His gift of forgiveness and eternal life through the merit and work of Jesus Christ alone? \u00a0 The Scripture says that today is the day of salvation! \u00a0Trust Him now.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks Dad!……Happy Father’s Day!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Note: \u00a0Dad went to be with the Lord within thirty days of my family moving back to the Midwest in 1994. \u00a0We had less than thirty days with him after living in the southeast for twenty-two years. \u00a0I had the privilege of preaching his funeral.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My dad could have been perceived to be a quiet man and an introvert, but he really wasn’t. \u00a0He loved people and he loved to visit. \u00a0I only learned when I became an adult that Dad stuttered. I had to learn that from others because I rarely heard him stutter. He had learned to choose … Continue reading My Dad<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1147"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1167,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions\/1167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}