One of my favorite memories with my dad is flying out from California to the Midwest together right after my high school graduation. We went to visit my brother in Wisconsin and drove down to Chicago where he showed me around Moody Bible Institute, where he and my mom went to college. He introduced me to his Chinese friend who owned a restaurant. My dad had helped him learn English back in college, so he gave us a sample platter of all kinds of delicacies I probably never would have ordered. I’m pretty sure one of them had tentacles!
I think back now how my dad may have secretly wanted me to consider going out to his alma mater in downtown Chicago. I remember thinking that I barely saw a tree on campus and I couldn’t picture studying there in the city for four years. Visiting was fine. But living there?
Fast forward thirteen years to 2002. My wife and I loaded up our car from our work at a youth camp in rural Minnesota and headed to Chicago for three years at North Park Seminary in…you guessed it…Chicago! The first week saw flooding in the basement of the seminary, oppressive heat, sirens, buses, loud stereos and jackhammers as they had construction on the campus. Low-flying jets made me nervous as we were only a year removed from 9/11. However, once we got settled in, we began to enjoy our time in a city where 40 languages were spoken within a square mile of the school. I began to see why my dad had sought the adventure of leaving Yakima, WA for the hustle and bustle of Chicago.
In many ways, I have followed the path of my father who has now passed into eternity. He devoted his life to Christian ministry and to his family. He opened up his home to strangers in need. He patiently raised six kids to love the Lord and love their neighbor. I had the privilege of preaching in the church my father grew up in several years ago. Our relatives there said I reminded them so much of my dad’s brother who had died much too young. I felt I had come full circle in tracing my spiritual roots.
The kind of bond my dad and I had pales in comparison with the unity that God the Father had with His Son Jesus. Jesus boldly announced, “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30) That statement caused his fellow Jewish countrymen to pick up stones to kill him. They thought of him as a mere man, when in reality he was the Son of God who always followed the will of the Father, even if it led him to the cross at Calvary. As you celebrate your father this Sunday, don’t forget to thank your heavenly Father for the costly gift of his Son, who died for our sins and offered each of us a way back into relationship with Him!
