Happy Fathers Day!!

My Daddy.

This will be the first Fathers day that my daddy will not be here. His number was called this past January.

He passed away and has gone on to his reward. My daddy accepted Jesus as his Savior several years earlier in the same hospital he died in. It was a sad time but it is something we all must face sooner or later. One day our number will come up and we will have to go. Are you prepared??

Daddy was 84 years old and in bad health. A week or so before his passing momma called me and said, your daddy has fallen in the bath room and he can’t get up.

I only live a couple of blocks from their house so it did not take long to get there. He had fallen and it looked like he had hit his head on the toilet. He was hurting really bad. I got him up carefully and helped him to his bed room. I told him I was going to call 911 and he at first said “no”! He was one of the most stubborn men I have ever known. Being stubborn is what help keep him alive for 84 years.

After a short while he told me to call somebody because he was hurting in an awful way. I called 911 and with in a very few minutes they were there. I had called them several times in the past for one reason or the other.

They took daddy to the hospital and admitted him to the emergency room. After a while they x-rayed his neck and told me I could take him home because they could not see anything wrong, but it was not to happen that way. I told them that something must be wrong with him in the first place, because something had made him fall.

After a while I called his personal Dr. and he fixed it so we could get a room on the third floor for my daddy.

I thank God for my daddy. He was a World War II Veteran. I had listened to many war stories throughout the years, now I wish I had listened better. I wish I had gone to see him more. Many times, coming home from sea, I would say to my self, I'll stop by and see daddy but often would not go because I was wore out.

I will hear no more stories from him at least not this side of heaven. Any way he was a combative patient and he fought hard every night but he was just fighting for his life as he had always done.

I stayed right by his side every night on a little uncomfortable cot. (I wish I could sleep on it tonight by his side, but---)

After a week of struggling, they finally found out that he had broken his neck in the fall.

His doctor told us that this was it. He would never go back home, at least to his home here on earth. So we all knew the end of Pa Pa’s life was really near.

They were going to take him and run some test on him so I went home to get cleaned up. My mother and my sister were there with him.

On the way to my house I have to go past his house so I stopped. I guess I just wanted to go in and see what I would feel or something, I don’t really know. The house smelled like urine because daddy had been sick for a long time and often could not control himself. My mother has always been an excellent house wife but it was just getting to be too much for her to handle. I have a great mother, she is a blessing to all of us and I praise God for her everyday.

This is the same house that I grew up in, so memories were running wild. I went to his bedroom and looked at the bed where he had slept for many, many years. I cried. Tears ran down my face like never before but they were good tears if tears can be good. I went in the living room and sat down in his chair. In this chair, daddy spent most of his time since his retirement. As I sat there, I cried some more of those same tears. I got up and went into the kitchen and sat down at the place where he always sat. I cried. I felt like writing something so I reached for a piece of paper and pencil and started to write an inspired poem. (I will share it with you in a few minutes.) As I stared to write this poem, tears started to fall on the paper and I could not see what I was writing but I knew what was trying to come out. I got up and went on home so I could use the computer to finish writing the poem.

I sat down at the computer and started to write and when I got to a place in the poem where it says something about daddy going to meet Jesus in the air, the phone rang and it was my sister at the hospital. She said daddy had stopped breathing and she breathed into his mouth and he came back to life.

I told my sister to tell him not to die until I got there. On the way I called all my children and shortly after I got there, the whole family was there. Also my best friend WK. was there. He said he just felt like being with me this day. He lives out of town. It was a comfort to have him there. He is a special person.

I held my daddies hand and told him I loved him and he said, “I love you to son.” I will never forget those words. Daddy had told me many times that he loved me. We were never afraid of saying those words that so many people don’t know how to say. “I love You.”

With the whole family in the room it was filled with tears and sobs, smiles but most of all love. Momma, was holding onto daddy with all her might but the time had finally come.

The nurse came in and told us that his heart rate was dropping fast and it would not be long and it wasn’t. I was holding his hand when he died. I watched his face go from blush red, to pale, to yellow and then white with no life. Everyone was in the room when he went across the bar to walk with Jesus. This was the first time ever that I heard momma call him darling. When he was passing she called out with a loud voice, “Oh my darling.”

My daddy was a great man, as far as I am concerned. I don’t know if all sons think their daddy is the smartest man in the world, but I thought mine was. I learned a lot about life from listening to him. I learned how to shoot a gun from him, how to drive a boat, car, and many more things. One thing that will never leave my mind is the love he lived and taught. I will always love my daddy.

Now what is the lesson in this, (Boy I am tired right now).

I would say: If you have a daddy still alive, tell him you love him because tomorrow may be too late. If your father is still alive, listen to him better when he tells you something because tomorrow he may be gone. Go see him if you are tired or not!! If you live a long way from your daddy or momma, give them a call.

If you are a young man, tell your son or daughter or wife you love them because before you know it, life here will be over. We are only passing through this earth for a short while.

Hear is the poem and you are welcome to use it in any way that you deem necessary.

“THE CHAIR WHERE MY DADDY SAT”

The chair where my daddy sat is empty now, so bare.
Age has taken its payment and now I sit and stare.

How could it be that a man so strong could have faded from my sight?
The one,, my Father,, so big and bold, who taught me day and night.

I called on him, all the time, when things weren’t going well.
Each time I did, you can bet my friend, a story he would tell.

He always gave good advice, and to his words I did heed,
And somewhere in his wisdom, was something I would need,

My daddy’s chair is empty now, his body it’s not there,
He’s going to meet Jesus, yes a journey in the air,

I thank you for my daddy Lord, who put me in this place,
But most of all dear Jesus, I thank You for Your grace.

I’ll miss him now “ My Father”, his voice it sounds so clear,
I’ll always have his memory, even though he is not here,

And as I travel on the ocean of life, I’ll think of him and cry,
And in my heart, I’ll wonder, and ask the question why?

I know that we are born to die and how special is this life,
I thank you Lord Jesus, for my daddy’s gracious wife.

My daddy’s chair is empty now, the room it seems so dark,
But as I look, I see his face and it lights a special spark.

A spark of love he gave to all, it was so truly dear.
And in the back of my spirit, his voice I still can hear.

He called my name as he went up; I know this is true,
He called my name as he went up, to walk the shore with you.

My daddy’s chair is empty now, but he’s in a better place.
Sitting and talking with Jesus because of amazing grace!

He didn’t have a lot of money, to this I can confess,
It was something much more special, so much better than the rest.

My daddy’s chair is empty now; I know he sits above,
The treasure he has left us, it is a gift called love.

In this life I will miss him and I know you’ll miss him too,
For now he sits with Jesus, helping prepare a place for you.

Robert N. Graves, Sr.

Fisherman for Christ.

Happy Father's day.

PS. My daddy taught me how to spell Father!!