Found Faithful

           Who’s watching you? No, I’m not implying that some James Bond-like spy shadows your life. But someone’s watching you.

            Today my father is eighty-six years old. He isn’t here to appreciate my good wishes or to unwrap a gift. He’s in the presence of Christ, which is far better. Still, I miss him just like I have for the past three and a half years since he’s been gone.

            You see, there’s a hole in my life that my father left. Dad prayed for me every day. He always had something wise to offer when I floundered in a quandary. If I was upset or irrational, he could calm me. Annually I miss the blessing my father inscribed in birthday cards. Those wonderful, spiritual blessings heaped upon me and hoped for me for the coming year are no more.

            But not everything is gone. Dad left me a spiritual legacy, a legacy of example. I was watching him.

 I will never forget seeing my father in his recliner early in the morning with his Bible laying across his lap. Though decades have flown, I can remember illustrations from “Our Daily Bread” that Dad read at the dinner table. My father wouldn’t even eat an apple without bowing in thanks.

            How could I forget the send-off prayers Dad confidently raised to God in the kitchen each time I left for college? I couldn’t do that anymore than I could relinquish the memory of Dad listening to The Radio Bible Class on Sunday morning before church or the stack of Bible study books accompanying the worn Bible on his bedside table.

            I watched and I watched my dad. As I watched, I stored away beautiful spiritual memories and examples of how to live the Christian life. Sometimes we are oblivious to the impact we have on those around us. Perhaps we think that the mundane, our daily routine is of little importance or value. But prayers, daily time in the Word, family devotions, an attitude of thanks for simple blessings and Bible study are worthy examples to emulate.

            Often I’m looking for someone who’s spiritually down the road farther than I am. The older I get, the more I realize that there are fewer ahead of me. Then I shudder to think that there may be someone coming up behind me. How do I live? How do you live? Are those who are watching us—and we can be sure someone is—finding us faithful?

            Faithful isn’t this moment or that moment. It’s the whole. Abraham messed up repeatedly, yet he’s called Father of the Faithful. How does that happen?  I think it’s because every day he got up, chose to believe God, even after he failed. That’s why God found him faithful. That’s what I want—faithfulness to the very end. Join me!